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113. 


THE   HISTORY 


OF 


GEORGIA   METHODISM 


FROM 


1786  to  1866 


BY 


Rev.  George  G.  Smith,  D.D. 


Atlanta,  Ga. : 
A.  B.  CALDWELL,  Publisher. 
1913 


r?3 


COPYRIGHTED,  1913 

BY 
R.  O.  SMITH 


'/  £ 


PREFACE 


This  volume  is  largely  built  on  the  "History  of  Methodism  in 
Georgia  and  Florida,"  published  thirty  years  ago. 

That  history  ended  at  the  beginning  of  the  separate  existence 
of  the  M.  E.  Church,  South.  It  has  been  my  design  to  give  a 
view  of  the  succeeding  period. 

I  have,  however,  had  no  occasion  to  change  materially  the 
current  history  to  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-five,  and  so  have — 
with  some  changes — simply  transferred  to  these  pages  what  was 
found  in  my  first  book.  The  sketches  of  the  members  of  the 
Conference  are  necessarily  very  short,  and  to  some  extent  unsat- 
isfactory, but  to  make  them  fuller  would  be  to  make  the  book  too 
large. 

Vineville,  1912. 


Rev.  George  Gilman  Smith,  D.  D. 

By 
Bishop  Warren  A.  Candler,  D.D.,  LL.  D., 


Rev.  George  Gilman  Smith,  D.D.,  the  historian  of  Georgia 
Methodism,  was  born  at  Sheffield,  a  county  seat  then  in  Newton 
County,  now  in  Rockdale  County,  on  December  24,  1836.  His 
parents  were  Dr.  George  G.  Smith  and  Susan  A.  Smith  (nee 
Howard). 

His  father  was  a  physician  of  ability,  but  served  as  Postmaster 
in  Atlanta  from  185 1  to  1855.  He  was  a  man  of  marked  intel- 
lect, unfaltering  integrity,  and  great  purity  of  character.  His 
mother  was  from  the  well-known  Howard  family,  which  has 
borne  such  a  creditable  part  in  the  history  of  the  States  of  Mary- 
land, Virginia  and  Georgia,  and  was  a  woman  of  uncommon 
graces  of  mind  and  heart.  Her  piety  and  intelligence  were  dis- 
tinguishing characteristics,  and  her  maternal  influence  had  much 
to  do  with  moulding  the  life  and  character  of  her  distinguished 
son. 

Among  his  ancestors  may  be  mentioned  Rev.  Isaac  Smith  and 
Rev.  John  Howard,  men  of  power  among  the  ministers  who" 
have  contributed  to  the  making  of  American  Methodism.  In 
his  veins  flows  some  of  the  best  blood  of  Ireland,  Scotland  and 
France,  received  from  ancestors  who  came  to  America  in  Colonial 
days. 

Dr.  Smith  was  never  of  vigorous  constitution  in  his  youth,  but 
it  has  been  characteristic  of  him  at  every  period  of  his  life  that 
he  has  made  such  physical  strength  as  he  has  possessed  go  far 
in  carrying  on  the  various  works  to  which  he  has  set  his  hand. 
He  showed  an  early  fondness  for  books,  especially  books  of  poetry 
and  history.  While  he  was  yet  a  child,  his  parents  went  to  reside 
in  Oxford,  Georgia,  the  seat  of  Emory  College.  In  that  village 
of  culture  and  religion  he  spent  most  of  the  first  ten  years  of  his 
life.     When  he  was  ten  years  of  age  he  went  with  his  parents 


Rev,  Geo.  G.  Smith,  D.D, 


Georgia  Methodism.  5 

to  live  in  the  young  town  of  Atlanta,  then  first  beginning  to  at- 
tract attention  as  a  commercial  and  social  center.  At  twelve  years 
of  age  the  serious,  earnest  boy  undertook  work  as  a  clerk  in  a 
store.  But  no  engagement  drew  his  heart  away  from  books.  He 
learned  much  in  a  school  taught  by  his  mother,  and  studied  clas- 
sics with  J.  T.  McGinty,  of  Atlanta,  and  J.  W.  Rudisill,  of  San- 
dersville.  These  studies  he  pursued  in  the  years  1853,  1854  and 
1855.  Subsequently  he  spent  a  term  and  a  half  at  Emory  Col- 
lege, but  was  never  graduated.  For  a  time  he  was  a  clerk  in  the 
postoffice  in  Augusta. 

In  1857  he  was  admitted  on  trial  in  the  Georgia  Conference 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  has  spent  his  life 
in  that  ministry,  serving  as  chaplain  in  the  Confederate  army  as 
well  as  in  the  many  important  pastorates. 

The  foregoing  facts  show  the  struggle  he  had  in  early  life, 
and  the  difficulties  he  met  in  acquiring  an  education.  Nothing 
daunted  by  all  these  obstacles,  Dr.  Smith  has  made  himself  a 
man  of  learning  by  habits  of  persistent  and  careful  study.  While 
doing  the  work  of  an  itinerant  Methodist  preacher,  he  studied 
rhetoric,  logic,  philosophy,  history  and  natural  science,  as  well  as 
theology.  He  has  been,  and  is,  an  omnivorous  reader  of  all  that 
is  worth  reading.  He  is  especially  well  acquainted  with  the  great 
authors  of  classic  English,  and  by  his  careful  study  of  them  he 
has  acquired  for  himself  a  most  charming  and  luminous  style. 
He  is  the  author  of  a  number  of  excellent  volumes,  among  which 
may  be  mentioned,  "The  History  of  Methodism  in  Georgia  and 
Florida,"  "The  Life  and  Letters  of  Bishop  James  O.  Andrew," 
"The  Life  and  Times  of  Bishop  George  F.  Pierce,"  "The  Life 
of  Bishop  Francis  Asbury,"  and  "The  Story  of  Georgia  and  the 
Georgia  People."  Besides  these  larger  works  he  has  written  many 
smaller  works  for  children  and  youth. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  he  has  done  much  of  this  literary 
work  while  engaged  in  the  active  ministry  the  amount  of  his  labor 
appears  most  remarkable.  And  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
while  a  chaplain  in  Phillip's  Legion  he  was  wounded  in  1862,  and 
has  scarcely  seen  a  day  of  health  since.     During  all  these  years 


6  History  of 

he  has  kept  a  cheerful  face,  a  warm  heart  and  a  busy  hand.  He 
richly  deserves  all  the  honor  that  has  been  done  him. 

From  Emory  College  he  received  the  Degree  of  Master  of 
Arts  and  Doctor  of  Divinity.  He  is  one  of  the  Vice-Presidents 
of  the  Methodist  Historical  Society  of  New  England,  an  honor 
given  him  in  recognition  of  his  great  work  in  the  department  of 
Methodist  history  and  biography.  He  knows  the  history  of  Geor- 
gia and  the  history  of  Methodism  more  perfectly  than  any  living 
man  within  the  limits  of  the  commonwealth.  The  men  and 
movements  that  have  been  involved  in  this  history  he  has  studied 
with  the  utmost  care.  But  even  beyond  his  admirable  intellectual 
gifts  and  literary  attainments,  Dr.  Smith  is  loved  and  admired 
for  noble  moral  characteristics.  He  has  followed  God  and 
wrought  righteousness  in  the  beauty  of  Christian  simplicity,  re- 
vealing in  all  his  life  a  loving  and  faithful  heart. 

With  the  aged  he  is  a  companion ;  with  the  middle  aged  a  wise 
friend,  and  with  the  little  children,  even  in  his  age  and  feebleness, 
he  is  still  "Dear  Brother  George."  If  any  man  who  knows  him 
does  not  love  him  it  is  a  discredit  to  the  unloving  soul  which 
withholds  from  him  its  affection. 

Unworldly,  unselfish,  incorruptible  and  unwearying,  he  has 
lived  for  the  highest  ends,  and  waits  in  life's  twilight  the  rich 
reward  of  Christian  fidelity,  which  no  temptation  has  been  able  to 
overcome  and  no  trial  has  been  able  to  overthrow. 

He  has  been  twice  married.  On  September  28,  1859,  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Sarah  J.  Ousley.  After  her  death,  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Nannie  L.  Lipps. 

In  all  the  relations  of  public  and  private  life  he  has  showed 
the  virtues  and  excellences  of  the  most  elevated  Christian  charac- 
ter. Georgia  has  produced  no  worthier  son  than  George  Gilman 
Smith,  D.  D. 


Georgia  Methodism.  11 

James  Quillian — Freeman  T.  Reynolds — George  C.  Clarke — William 
J.  Cotter — Conference  at  Louisville  in  May,  1845 — Methodist  Episco- 
pal church,  South,  organized,  and  the  first  Georgia  Conference  under 
the  new  organization  held  in  Athens  in  January,  1846 — The  Georgia 
Conference  has  a  membership  of  49,000,  with  seven  districts — Brief 
review  of  progress  made— James  Anthony — Thomas  F.  Pierce — Wil- 
liam A.  Simmons — Eustace  Speer — Discussion  of  doctrine  of  Entire 
Sanctification — Henry  Crawford— Patrick  Arminius  Wright — Wiley  G. 
Parks — Charles  Fullwood — John  M.  Bonnell — Conference  meets  in 
Middle  Georgia — Separate  churches  established  for  the  colored  people — 
Discreditable  church  buildings — The  whole  State  mapped  out,  but 
much  of  the  work  very  hard — Development  of  the  gold  districts — 
Conference  of  1847 — Edward  L.  Stephens — James  W.  Hinton — Lewis 
J.  Davies— Charles  R.  Jewett  in  Marietta — Conference  of  1849 — 
Joseph  Stanton  Key — Michael  A.  Clontz — W.  R.  Foote — Albert  Gray — 
Alex  M.  Wynn — Theophilus  S.  Harwell — David  J.  Myrick — John  C.  Sim- 
mons, Jr. — Charles  W.  Thomas — W.  H.  Thomas. 

Chapter   III. 

1850-1855.  Conference  of  1850 — James  M.  Dickey — Atlanta  a  station 
— James  L.  Pierce  sent  to  the  new  station — Dr.  Thomas  R.  Pierce — 
William  Pope  Harrison — Richard  J.  Harwell — Thomas  H.  Jordan — 
William  T.  Norman — Harwell  H.  Parks — John  E.  Sentell — John  Strick- 
land— Conference  of  1851 — Lewis  B.  Paine — James  W.  Trawick — Jacob 
R.  Owen — Edmund  P.  Birch— John  H.  Grogan — 'Robert  F.  Jones — John 
H.  Mashburn — John  H.  Harris — Benj.  W.  Perry — A  period  of  transi- 
tion, old  circuits  remodeled,  new  churches  built;  improvement  both  in 
country  and  city — Only  nine  stations  in  the  State,  but  many  strong 
circuits — Hon.  J.  J.  Jones — Bishop  Soule,  who  had  adhered  to  the  South, 
being  with  Bishop  Andrew  unequal  to  the  great  work,  were  reinforced 
by  the  election  of  Bishops  Robert  Paine  and  William  Capers — Piney 
Grove  Sunday-school  in  Lincoln  county  the  oldest  continuous  school 
in  the  State,  with  one  Superintendent  for  fifty  years — The  people  rally 
to  the  support  of  superannuated  preachers  and  widows  and  orphans — 
as  yet  the  new  church  is  without  foreign  missions — the  schools  all 
doing  good  work — the  Southern  Christian  Advocate  under  charge  of 
Dr.  Wightman  (later  a  Bishop) — Southwestern  Georgia  improving 
rapidly  under  the  care  of  Walter  Knox — the  Conference  of  1851 — W.  F. 
Conley — Lemuel  T.  Allen — Increase  for  the  year  4,000  members — Mis- 
sionary collections  $18,000— Joshua  G.  Payne — Wesley  P.  Pledger — 
James  G.  Worley — W.  S.  Baker — Dennis  O.  Driscoll — Robert  B.  Lester 
— Philemon  C.  Harris — Conference  of  1852 — John  W.  Brady — Isaac  M. 
Craven — Daniel  G.  Cox — John  B.  McGee — W.  D.  Shea — Conference  of 
1853 — W.  G.  Allen — Thomas  Boring — W.  M.  Brewer — Joseph  Chambers 
— David  T.  Holmes — Albert  M.  Rowland — Weyman  H.  Potter — Wesley 
F.  Smith — William  M.  D.  Bond — Marshall  F.  Malsby — Noah  Palmer — 
Robert  N.  Cotter — James  H.  Reese — Jackson  Rush — Conference  of 
1854,  first  ever  held  in  Atlanta — One  of  the  largest  and  most  remark- 
able classes  ever  admitted  in  any  year — J.  O.  Clark — John  W.  Burke — 
James  T.  Ainsworth — Thomas  T.  Christian — Alvan  J.  Dean — Francis 
X.  Forster — Milford  Hamby — George  G.  N.  McDonnell,  who  was 
over  fifty  years  in  the  ministry — Oscar  P.  Fitzgerald  (later  a  Bishop) 
— E.  T.  McGhee  over  fifty  years  in  the  ministry — General  Conference 


12  History  of 

of  1854  meets  in  Columbus,  Ga. — Book  concern  established  in  Nash- 
ville— George  P.  Pierce — H.  H.  Kavanaugh  and  John  Early  elected 
Bishops — Americus  made  a  station — Jesse  R.  Littlejohn  sent  there — 
Colored  missions  prosper — The  work  of  the  church  progressing  in 
all  directions — Conference  of  1855  meets  at  LaGrange — Class  of 
twenty  admitted — One  future  Bishop  on  the  list — Francis  A.  and 
James  Orson  Branch— Frederick  R.  C.  Ellis— Robert  L.  Wiggins- 
Hard  work  in  South  Georgia  and  in  Florida — Missionary  collection 
reaches  $19,000— J.  Blakely  Smith  made  book  agent— David  W.  Cal- 
houn— j0hn  W.  McGee — John  W.  Turner — Benj.  F.  Breedlove — James 
V.  M.  Morris — Habersham  J.  Adams — W.  F.  Cook — Peter  M.  Ryburn. 

Chapter  IV. 

1856-1860.  Conference  of  1856  held  in  Americus — Class  of  twenty 
admitted— Robert  W.  Dixon— W.  H.  Moss— W.  A.  Parks— Wiley  T. 
Hamilton — W.  T.  McMichael — Alex  M.  Thigpen — George  H.  Patillo — 
John  W.  Reynolds — Robert  W.  Lovett — E.  T.  Gates— Thomaston  made 
a  station — the  church  not  prospering  equally  with  other  interests  in 
the  State — Missionary  collection  reaches  $21,000 — Conference  of  1857 
meets  in  Washington — A  decreasing  membership— Financial  depres- 
sion falls  upon  the  country  and  collections  fall  off  heavily — Unfortu- 
nate controversies  with  the  Baptists — A  large  class  admitted — Lewis 
L.  Ledbetter — Whitfield  Anthony — John  T.  Norris — Newdaygate  B. 
Ousley — George  W.  Yarbrough — Edward  J.  Rentz — George  G.  Smith, 
the  compiler  of  this  history,  enters  the  ministry — David  R.  McWil- 
liams  still  in  the  work — The  depressing  year  of  1857  followed  by  the 
cheering  and  phenomenal  year  of  1858 — Great  revivals — Increase  of 
6,000  in  membership — 'Missionary  collections  reach  $23,000 — Confer- 
ence of  1858  meets  in  Columbus — A  large  class  admitted — Many  of 
the  older  Presiding  Elders  give  way  to  younger  men — Britton  Sanders 
— Olin  S.  Means — John  J.  Morgan — James  L.  Lupo — John  L.  Berry — 
W.  C.  D.  Perry — Young  J.  Allen,  who  became  the  Dean  of  the  Mission- 
ary corps  in  China  with  nearly  fifty  years  of  service  to  his  credit — 
Charles  A.  Moore — Edward  A.  H.  McGhee — James  Y.  Bryce- — Hamil- 
ton G.  Horton — John  W.  Simmons — Thomas  B.  Lanier — Robert  F. 
Williamson — Atticus  G.  Haygood,  later  a  Bishop,  and  one  of  the  great 
figures  of  the  nation — Conference  of  1859  meets  in  Rome — Decrease 
of  over  2,000  in  membership — Missionary  collection  passes  $24,000 — 
A  book  depository  established  in  Macon  with  John  W.  Burke  as  agent 
— Gibson  C.  Andrew — Ebenezer  G.  Murrah — Sanford  Leake — Robert 
A.  Seale — James  T.  Lowe — Great  development  in  the  State — Rapid 
Railroad  building — Many  new  and  flourishing  towns — Number  of  sta- 
tions largely  increased — Improvement  in  educational  standards  in  the 
ministry — Greater  liberality  of  the  church  in  matters  of  discipline — 
Good  schools  found  in  all  sections  of  the  State  except  the  Wire  Grass 
country  and  the  mountains — No  literary  examinations  made  of  ap- 
plicants to  the  ministry,  but  the  standard  improving. 

Chapter  V. 

1860-1866.  The  last  year  of  the  old  regime — Mr.  Lincoln  elected 
President  and  the  whole  country  in  ferment — The  Conference  of  1860 
meets  in  Augusta — Increase  of  5,000  in  membership — Missionary  col- 
lections  reach    $29,000— A   verv   large   class   admitted   on   trial — J.   R. 


Georgia  Methodism.  13 

Parker — Norman  D.  Morehouse — John  M.  Lowry — W.  W.  Oslin — Wes- 
ley Lane — W.  W.  Stewart — A  period  of  intense  excitement,  and  seces- 
sion the  only  subject  of  discussion — The  country  thrown  into  Civil 
War — Many  of  the  preachers  go  to  the  army  as  Chaplains,  others  as 
soldiers — Conference  of  1861  meets  in  Atlanta — A  small  class  admit- 
ted— John  K.  Leake — The  criminal  career  of  W.  A.  J.  Fulton — Isaac 
S.  T.  Hopkins — Anderson  Joseph  Jarrell — J.  R.  Gaines — The  war  in- 
creases in  intensity  and  violence — The  Conference  of  1862  meets  in 
Macon — People  show  a  good  spiritual  condition  notwithstanding  the 
trials  of  the  times — The  smallest  class  ever  admitted  up  to  that  time — 
William  Asbury  Dodge — William  C.  Dunlap — Robert  A.  Holland — Con- 
ference of  1863  meets  in  Columbus — All  the  business  of  the  country 
in  chaos — -Villages  and  towns  crowded  with  wounded  soldiers — A  small 
class  admitted— William  C.  Malloy— Willis  T.  Caldwell— Eldridge  K. 
Aiken — J.  O.  A.  Cook — 1864  a  year  of  horrors— A  large  part  of  the 
State  a  great  battlefield — Devastation  and  ruin  everywhere — Confer- 
ence for  1864  meets  in  Athens  in  January,  1865.  Only  three  admitted 
on  trial — George  T.  Embry — Peter  A.  Heard — The  war  comes  to  an 
end — A  large  majority  of  negroes  slough  off  and  go  into  other 
churches — Revival  fires  begin  to  blaze — The  Freedmen's  Bureau 
established  by  the  Federal  Government,  and  does  some  good  work — 
Conference  of  1865  meets  in  Macon — Eleven  admitted  on  trial — E.  S. 
Tyner — Charles  J.  Oliver — James  M.  Stokes — 'Robert  J.  Corley —  Fran- 
cis G.  Hughes — Major  General  Clement  Evans  one  of  this  class — W.  P. 
Rivers — The  close  of  the  war  finds  the  membership  5,000  less  than 
at  the  beginning — The  Missionary  collection  90  per  cent,  less — The 
General  Conference  of  1866  to  meet  at  New  Orleans  in  May — Radi 
cal  changes  considered — The  Southern  Christian  Advocate  moved 
from  Charleston  to  Augusta,  and  thence  to  Macon — Dr.  McTyiere 
(later  Bishop)  leader  of  the  progressives — Use  of  organs  had  greatly 
increased  in  the  churches — The  General  Conference  makes  radical 
changes  and  provides  for  the  division  of  the  Georgia  Conference — 
Four  new  Bishops  elected:  McTyiere,  Wightman,  Doggett  and  Mar- 
vin— Conference  of  1866  a  small  class — John  W.  Heidt — Benson  L. 
Timmons — R.  R.  Johnson — Francis  B.  Davies — W.  McCauley — Josiah 
Lewis,  Jr. — M.  L.  Robison — 2,000  increase  during  the  year  1886 — The 
Conference  divided  into  the  North  Georgia  and  South  Georgia  Con- 
ferences. 

Chapter  VI. 

Methodism  in  the  Cities.  First  foothold  obtained  in  the  cities  is 
in  Augusta — Episcopalians  first  on  the  ground— Solomon  Frink — Ed- 
ward Ellington — The  Revolution  results  in  Episcopal  clergymen  leav- 
ing the  country — People  without  church  privileges — First  effort  of 
Methodism  in  Augusta  in  1789— Nothing  accomplished  until  1798,  when 
Stith  Mead  took  hold  of  the  work— He  built  a  church  where  St.  John's 
church  now  stands — Presbyterians  come  in  1808,  and  the  Baptists 
about  1818 — Ebenezer  Doughty — Mrs.  Mann — Asaph  Waterman— John 
Garvin— Levi  Garrison— Nicholas  Snethen— Britton  Capel — Hugh 
Porter — The  Augusta  church  grows  slowly — Augusta  united  with 
Louisville  in  one  charge — Great  work  done  by  Asaph  Waterman,  for 
many  years  the  leading  layman — He  finds  a  worthy  successor  in  John 
H.  Mann— Some  leading  families  adhere  to  Methodism— Many  of  the 
best  men   succeed   one  another  in   the  work,   but   it  moves   slowly — 


14  History  of 

Under  Henry  Bass  a  decided  forward  movement  takes  place — From 
that  time  forward,  notwithstanding  occasional  bad  years,  there  was  a 
steady  gain — Handsome  new  church  built  in  1843 — Other  churches 
built,  until  now  the  city  is  a  stronghold,  with  a  number  of  excellent 
congregations  and  beautiful  churches. 

The  Work  in  Savannah.  Savannah  indeed  a  hard  field — Some  of 
the  best  men  of  the  church  are  worn  out  in  fruitless  struggle  against 
the  conditions  prevailing— Samuel  Dunwoody— McVean — Cooper — Rus- 
sell— All  struggled  without  results — First  real  gain  made  under  Wil- 
liam Capers  in  1819,  and  a  solid  foothold  gained  as  a  result  of  the 
labors  of  Capers  and  his  successor,  John  Howard — Savannah  en- 
joyed in  these  years  the  ministry  of  the  very  strongest  men  in  the 
church — To  Wesley  was  added  Trinity,  and  later  Andrew  Chapel — Now 
Savannah  rejoices  in  the  addition  of  Wesley  Monumental  church,  to 
which  the  church  at  large  contributed,  and  which  is  one  of  the  orna- 
ments of  American  Methodism. 

Methodism  in  Macon.  Methodism  was  established  in  Macon  almost 
with  the  foundation  of  the  city — Within  eight  years  after  the  city  was 
founded,  the  Methodist  church  was  strong  enough  to  entertain  the 
Conference — Well  served  by  strong  men — Their  influence  greatly  in- 
creased by  the  establishment  of  the  Wesleyan  Female  College — Macon 
Methodism  steadily  grew  until  today  it  is  one  of  the  strong  centers 
of  the  church,  there  being  in  the  city,  and  its  suburbs,  several  ex- 
cellent congregations  with  handsome  edifices. 

Methodism  in  Columbus — Columbus  laid  out  in  1827 — Made  a  mission 
in  1828,  and  James  Stockdale  appointed  to  the  work — The  church 
grew  from  the  start,  and  in  a  few  years  gained  a  strong  membership — 
Within  twelve  years  from  organization  shows  a  membership  of  970 — 
A  handsome  new  church  then  built,  absolutely  free  of  debt  on  the 
day  it  was  dedicated — The  growth  may  be  seen  from  the  fact  that  the 
city  today  has  five  churches  for  white  people  and  a  number  for  the 
colored. 

Athens.  One  of  the  first  of  the  towns  to  have  Methodist  preaching, 
but  up  to  1825  had  no  church — Up  to  1817,  Hope  Hull's  house  was  the 
preaching  place — and  for  the  next  eight  years  the  professors  of  the 
College  supplied  the  people  with  church  services — In  1825  the  Metho- 
dists built  their  first  church — The  sons  of  Hope  Hull  and  Gen.  David 
Meriwether  give  it  strong  and  loyal  support — The  church  grew  and 
multiplied  in  numbers,  and  enjoyed  the  ministry  of  many  strong  men — 
The  young  church  shares  the  usual  vicissitudes,  but  on  the  whole  there 
is  a  gain — In  1857  a  second  church  is  built — Athens  noted  for  its 
saintly  women — Dr.  Henry  Hull,  son  of  Hope  Hull,  for  over  fifty 
years  an  official  member  of  the  church  in  Athens. 

Atlanta.  Youngest  town,  but  now  the  largest  city  in  the  State,  shows 
same  sort  of  record  in  Methodist  church  work,  being  now  one  of  the 
strongest  Methodist  cities  in  the  country — Upon  the  establishment  of 
the  church  in  1847,  with  great  difficulty,  a  subscription  of  $700  was 
raised  to  build  a  church,  and  the  shell  of  the  building  erected — The 
First  Methodist  church  the  first  to  hold  regular  religious  services 
in  the  city — Local  preachers  render  valuable  work,  and  in  three  years 
the  town  was  set  apart  as  a  station — W.  H.  Evans  does  a  great  work 
in  the  earlier  years — After  the  destruction  of  the  city  by  Sherman, 
when  the  period  of  rebuilding  set  in,  the  church  kept  pace  with  the 
increase  in  population — Today  Atlanta  Methodism  is  powerful  in  num- 


Georgia  Methodism.  15 

bers  and  thoroughly  well  equipped  with  handsome  and  commodious 
places  of  worship. 

Chapter  VII. 

Poverty-stricken  and  uneducated,  the  early  Methodists  hungered  for 
education — Hope  Hull  established  Rehoboth  Academy  prior  to  1800 — 
Another  established  at  Salem,  Clarke  county;  later  it  was  taken  under 
the  charge  of  the  Conference — Randolph-Macon  is  extended  support 
from  Georgia — A  Manual  Labor  School  established  near  Covington — 
Ignatius  Few  promotes  the  movement  which  results  in  the  establish- 
ment of  Emory  College — It  was  incorporated  in  1837  at  Oxford,  near 
Covington — Ignatius  Few  its  first  President — Alexander  Means  and 
George  W.  Lane  were  the  professors — Judge  Longstreet  succeeds  Dr. 
Few — Bishop  Pierce  succeeds  Judge  Longstreet.  Then  come  Dr. 
Means,  Dr.  Thomas,  Dr.  Luther  M.  Smith,  Dr.  Osborn  L.  Smith  and 
Dr.  A.  G.  Haygood — Upon  Dr.  Haygood  fell  the  burden  of  rehabilitating 
the  college  after  the  devastation  of  war — Dr.  Isaac  S.  Hopkins  suc- 
ceeds Dr.  Haygood — Dr.  Warren  A.  Candler  succeeds  Dr.  Hopkins — 
Dr.  Dowman  succeeds  Dr.  Candler — Dr.  Dowman  succeeded  by  Dr. 
James  A.  Dickey,  the  present  incumbent — Artemas  Lester,  a  young 
circuit  preacher  in  the  mountains,  founds  Young  Harris  College,  which 
has  grown  into  a  prosperous  institution. 

Female  Colleges.  As  early  as  1830  an  agitation  began  for  a  higher 
class  of  schools  for  girls — Elijah  Sinclair  proposes  that  Macon  shall 
establish  a  college  for  young  women,  where  degrees  can  be  conferred — 
The  idea  took  root,  an  organization  was  effected  and  George  L.  Pierce 
elected  president — The  school  has  had  very  checkered  fortunes,  almost 
destroyed  at  times  by  financial  panics,  but  through  the  devoted  and 
unselfish  work  of  its  friends  it  has  survived  all  mutations,  and  is 
now  one  of  the  best  known  and  most  highly  esteemed  of  our  female 
colleges — Andrew  Female  College,  at  Cuthbert,  and  LaGrange  Female 
College  have  both  had  prosperous  careers,  and  are  most  useful  insti- 
tutions. 

Sunday-schools.  In  the  very  beginning  of  Methodism,  Mr.  Wesley 
recognized  the  usefulness  of  Sunday  teaching  for  children — The  first 
of  which  we  have  record  in  Georgia  was  at  Milledgeville  in  1811 — 
Shiloh  in  Jackson  county,  and  the  old  school  in  Lincoln  county,  which 
has  had  such  a  remarkable  career,  come  next  in  order — The  father  of 
Jesse  and  Isaac  Boring  was  the  Superintendent  of  the  Jackson  county 
school — He  was  a  remarkable  man,  who  learned  to  read  after  he  had 
children  of  school  age  and  became  a  man  of  wide  influence,  repre- 
senting his  county  in  the  General  Assembly — A  Sunday-school  estab- 
lished in  Savannah  in  1820 — In  1831,  the  Conference  takes  up  the 
Sunday-school  work  in  a  systematic  way — From  that  time  forward,  the 
growth  of  Sunday-school  work  has  been  the  growth  of  the  church. 

Missions.  All  the  work  of  the  pioneer  church  missionary — it  may 
be  truly  said  that  it  constituted  an  organized  missionary  society — After 
the  first  hard  years,  the  preachers  began  regularly  taking  up  collec- 
tions for  specific  mission  work — The  first  record  we  have,  for  the 
years  1819  and  1820  shows  $2,658  collected— For  four  years  of  that 
period  $14,716  was  collected — There  was  a  regular  missionary  society 
organized  in  1821 — 'Missions  established  among  the  Indians,  and  great 
numbers  of  missionaries  sent  to  the  colored  people — Many  missions 
among  the  Indians  very  successful,  especially  those  among  the  Chero- 


16  History  of 

kees — a  great  organized  work  done  among  the  negroes  after  1831, 
though  previous  to  that  the  preachers  had  seen  to  it  that  they  had 
the  Gospel  preached  to  them— By  1860  the  collections  grew  to  nearly 
$30,000  per  year — The  war  nearly  destroyed  the  missionary  work  of 
the  church,  but  with  resolute  courage  it  was  resumed  after  the  war, 
and  today  the  two  Conferences  in  Georgia  give  annually  immense 
sums  for  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  throughout  the  heathen  section 
of  the  world. 

Benevolences.  In  the  early  days  the  people  too  poor  to  organize 
benevolent  societies — In  1806  was  organized  the  Society  for  Special 
Relief  and  several  small  bequests  were  made  to  it — In  1836,  a  society 
incorporated  as  the  Relief  Society,  which  was  later  changed  to  the 
Preachers'  Aid  Socity — Various  small  bequests  have  been  made  to  this 
society,  and  it  is  still  in  existence  and  doing  much  good. 

Orphan  Homes.  Through  the  efforts  of  Dr.  Jesse  Boring,  orphanages 
were  established,  one  near  Decatur  for  the  North  Georgia  Conference, 
one  near  Macon  for  the  South  Georgia  Conference — Both  of  these  have 
done  great  and  good  work. 

Review  of  the  work  of  the  church  and  its  application — Supplemental 
word  on  the  changes  in  the  church  during  the  past  forty-five  years 
and  its  present  condition. 


^ir 


Jonx  Wesley 


Wesley   Monumental  Church,  Savanna] 


CHAPTER  I. 

1735- 

John  Wesley  said  that  the  second  Methodist  society  ever  organ- 
ized in  the  world  was  organized  in  Savannah,  Georgia. 

Mr.  Wesley  was  not  doctrinally  a  Methodist  when  he  organ- 
ized that  society,  but  he  was  in  a  fair  way  to  become  so. 

We  may  safely  say  that  Methodism,  as  far  as  her  peculiar  doc- 
trines are  concerned,  was  born  in  Georgia,  for  here  it  was  that 
he  who  was  to  give  them  form,  and  to  defend  them  and  to  propa- 
gate them,  emerged  from  the  darkness  of  mystical  delusion,  broke 
the  shackles  of  churchly  tradition,  and  became  fully  convinced  of 
those  truths  which,  as  Wesleyan,  have  had  so  mighty  an  influence 
in  the  world.* 

In  a  history  of  Methodism  in  Georgia  this  fact  must  find  place, 
and  while  Wesley's  life  in  the  State  is  not  strictly  Methodist  his- 
tory, yet  we  shall  not  be  violating  the  unity  of  the  story  by  glanc- 
ing at  it  in  this  introductory  chapter. 

The  province  of  South  Carolina  swept  from  the  Atlantic  Coast 
to  the  Mississippi,  and  although  Charleston  was  near  one  hundred 
years  old,  and  country  settlements  had  been  made  on  the  east 
side  of  the  Savannah  for  over  a  century,  all  west  of  the  river 
was  an  unbroken  wild. 

The  prisons  and  poor-houses  of  England  were  full,  and  a  colony 
not  for  paupers  and  criminals,  but  for  those  who  might  become 
so  without  help,  was  decided  upon  by  some  philanthropic  London- 
ers, George  II.  granted  to  them,  as  trustees,  all  that  area  of  land 
from  the  Savannah  river  to  the  Mississippi,  and  James  Ogle- 
thorpe, afterwards  General,  was  by  them  selected  to  plant  the 
colony  in  it. 

He  came  across  the  sea  with  a  small  body  of  emigrants,  and 
on  the  high  bluffs  of  the  Savannah,  near  an  Indian  village,  he 
founded  the  City  of  Savannah.  He  brought  an  Episcopal  clergy- 
man, Dr.  Henry  Herbert,  with  him,  and  soon  a  rough  building — 
a  kind  of  tabernacle — was  erected.  The  Salzburgers,  who  came 
with  Mr.  Oglethorpe,  brought  with  them  also  a  pastor ;  and  these 
two  clergymen,  one  a  Lutheran  and  the  other  an  Episcopalian, 
were  the  first  in  Georgia.  Mr.  Samuel  Quincy  succeeded  Dr. 
Herbert,  but  he  soon  became  dissatisfied  and  resolved  to  return 


'Wesley  's  Journal,  and  Lives  of  Wesley. 


18  History  of 

to  England.  When  Mr.  Oglethorpe  decided  to  make  a  voyage  to 
England  for  new  emigrants,  he  was  anxious  to  secure  a  minister 
for  the  parish. 

The  field  was  a  hard  one.  The  man  who  undertook  the  work 
of  tilling  it  needed  a  soul  crucified  to  the  world.  Air.  Oglethorpe, 
when  he  reached  London,  was  told  that  there  was  a  Fellow  of 
Lincoln  College,  Oxford,  who  would  meet  all  his  demands.  He 
was  John  Wesley;  mystical — rather  too  much  for  England,  too 
strict  and  careful  in  his  own  conduct,  and  too  exacting  in  his 
demands  upon  others,  for  those  times,  but  just  the  man  to  teach 
colonists  going  to  the  wilds,  and  Indians  who  had  never  left  them 
the  way  to  Heaven.  Wesley  had  already  refused  the  rectorship 
of  his  father's  parish,  but  it  might  be  that  he  and  his  gifted  young 
brother  would  consent  to  go  to  Georgia. 

So  Mr.  Oglethorpe  offered  to  John  and  Charles  Wesley  minis- 
terial charges  in  the  new  colony. 

John  Wesley  had  now  for  six  years  been  a  Fellow  of  Lincoln 
Inn,  Oxford ;  and  engrossed  with  his  studies  and  striving  with  the 
ardor  of  an  ascetic  of  the  early  days  to  satisfy  the  demands  of 
an  exacting  conscience,  he  had  no  wish  to  go  out  into  the  busy 
world. 

But  when  Oglethorpe's  appeal  reached  him  and  his  brother 
Charles,  that  he  might  become  more  thoroughly  dead  to  the  world, 
and  that  he  might  lead  the  Indians  to  Christ,  he  consented  to 
leave  England  and  come  to  Georgia.  Benj.  Ingham,  Chas.  Dela- 
motte  and  Charles  Wesley  came  with  him.  The  Simmonds 
in  which  they  sailed  left  Gravesend,  Oct.  14,  1735,  and  reached 
Savannah  Feb.  8,  1736.  Four  months  of  sea  travel  necessarily 
makes  voyagers  well  acquainted  with  each  other,  and  this  voyage 
brought  Mr.  Wesley  in  contact  with  some  persons  whose  services 
to  him,  and  through  him  to  the  world,  have  been  of  untold  value. 
Among  the  voyagers  were  some  Moravians  and  Salzburgers.  Of 
how  Mr.  Wesley  became  interested  in  them,  of  how  they  taught 
him  more  fully  the  way  to  Jesus,  his  biography  tells.  When  he 
reached  Savannah,  he  had  about  come  to  the  conclusion  that  he 
needed  to  be  taught  the  first  principles  of  Christian  faith,  and  by 
Spangenberg,  the  Moravian,  and  by  his  Lutheran  companions,  he 
was  taught  what  he  had  needed  most  to  know — the  doctrine  of  a 
free  justification  by  faith,  and  of  the  Spirit's  witness.  He  accept- 
ed these  truths  as  of  God,  but  he  did  not  so  soon  enter  into  the 
liberty  which  they  were  designed  to  bring  to  him.  All  the  while 
he  was  in  America  he  was  a  slave  in  fetters.  The  old  traditions 
of  ecclesiasticism,  the  vagaries  of  the  Mystics,  and  the  gloomy  doc- 


Georgia  Methodism.  19 

trines  of  Taylor  and  Law,  under  whose  shadow  he  had  lived,  were 
not  so  easily  escaped  from. 

Savannah,  which  was  his  parish,  was  a  small  village,  poorly 
built,  and  populated  by  a  motley  company.  The  most  of  its  in- 
habitants were  English  people  from  the  humbler  classes.  There 
were  a  few  Portuguese  Jews,  and  the  German  colony  of  Salz- 
burgers  was  only  twenty  miles  above  at  Ebenezer.  There  was  a 
colony  of  Scotch  Highlanders  at  the  mouth  of  the  Altamaha, 
and  a  settlement  at  Frederica,  besides  a  few  French  at  Highgate, 
near  Savannah.  Mr.  Oglethorpe  had  his  headquarters  at  Fred- 
erica,  for  this  was  the  point  nearest  the  Spanish  possessions  in 
Florida,  and  was  threatened  by  their  forces,  and  Charles  Wesley 
was  his  chaplain  and  secretary  there.  There  were  perhaps  three 
hundred  white  persons  in  the  colony.  Mr.  Wesley  began  his  work 
with  great  ardor.  Adopting  the  usages  of  the  early  Church,  he 
endeavored  to  bring  his  parishioners  to  adopt  them  also.  On  Sun- 
day morning  at  five  he  read  prayers,  at  eleven  he  preached  and 
administered  the  communion ;  in  the  afternoon  he  taught  the 
children  the  catechism,  and  had  thus  a  Sunday-school,  one  of  the 
first,  if  not  the  first,  in  America.  Then  he  preached  to  the  French 
colony  at  Highgate  in  their  own  tongue.  During  the  week  he 
visited  from  house  to  house.  He  reproved  and  rebuked  with  all 
authority.  He  positively  refused  to  deviate  from  the  old  rubrics 
of  the  Church,  refusing  even  to  baptize  a  babe  unless  its  parents 
would  consent  to  its  being  immersed.  He  made  two  or  three  trips 
to  Frederica,  where  Charles  Wesley  was  rector,  and  here  his  bold- 
ness offended  his  hearers.  He  conversed  with  the  Indians  and 
tried  unsuccessfully  to  get  access  to  them.  He  gave  himself  to  the 
most  diligent  efforts  to  secure  that  crucifixion  to  the  world  for 
which  he  longed,  refusing  to  talk  upon  any  but  religious  topics. 
The  result  of  his  rigid  life,  and  not  less  rigid  teachings,  was  that 
the  displeasure  of  the  parishioners  became  greatly  aroused.  This 
received  additional  strength  from  the  exercise  of  what  he  be- 
lieved was  a  righteous  discipline.  He  had  but  eighteen  communi- 
cants, and  one  of  these  he  repelled  from  the  communion.  She 
had  been  very  dear  to  him,  and  this  only  intensified  the  anger  of 
her  friends. 

Perhaps  no  act  of  church  discipline,  of  so  slight  importance, 
has  ever  created  more  discussion  than  Mr.  Wesley's  course  to- 
wards Mrs.  Williamson,  who  had  been  Miss  Sophia  Hopkey. 
She  was  a  sprightly  and  attractive  English  girl,  the  niece  of  Mr. 
Causton,  who  was  one  of  the  leading  men  in  the  colony ;  she  came 
over  in  the  ship  in  which  Mr.  Wesley  came,  and  they  were  for 


20  History  of 

some  time  attached  friends.  The  relations  between  them  have  not 
been  fully  understood,  and  because  of  this  the  fair  name  of  Mr. 
Wesley  has  more  than  once  been  assailed,  if  not  with  open  slan- 
der, yet  with  gross  innuendo.  He  gave  to  Henry  More  the  true 
account  of  all  relations  between  them,  and  of  his  course  in  the 
matter  of  discipline.  From  More's  account  we  are  able  to  give 
the  history. 

She  was  an  attractive  girl,  whom  Mr.  Wesley  thought  to  be  a 
sincere  inquirer  after  a  holy  life.  They  were  four  months  to- 
gether. He  was  young,  gifted,  handsome,  and  with  bright  worldly 
prospects.  She  was  apparently  amiable,  and  certainly  very  at- 
tractive. He  taught  her,  advised  her,  and  a  genuine  affection  on 
his  part  sprang  up  towards  her.  Love  makes  a  scholar  blind,  but 
it  did  not  blind  the  quiet  Germans  to  the  fact  that  she  would  not 
do  for  Mr.  Wesley's  wife.  She  evidently  was  not  averse  to  mar- 
rying the  young  rector,  and  expected  confidently  that  he  would 
engage  himself;  but  Mr.  Wesley  consulted  his  German  friends, 
and  they  advised  against  it,  and  he  ceased  his  visits  to  her.  This 
was  after  they  reached  Savannah.  A  Mr.  Williamson  gladly  took 
the  vacated  place,  and  soon  Miss  Hopkey  became  Mrs.  William- 
son. 

Savannah  was  a  gossiping  village.  Mrs.  Williamson  was  young 
and  thoughtless ;  and  untrue  and  harsh  things  were  said  about  Mr. 
Wesley,  which  he  believed  came  from  her ;  and  believing  she  was 
unfit  to  partake,  he  passed  her  over  at  the  communion.  Her 
uncle  and  husband  and  all  her  friends  were  of  course  angry.  They 
went  to  the  courts  with  it.  Mr.  Wesley  tried  to  get  a  trial,  and 
when  he  could  not,  much  to  the  relief  of  the  colony  and  to  his 
own,  he  took  shipping  for  England  after  he  had  spent  nearly  two 
years  in  Georgia.  His  stay  had  been  a  painful  and  profitable  one 
to  himself.  He  had  not  hoped  to  find  his  work  a  bed  of  roses. 
He  found  it  more  thorny  than  he  had  expected.  He  hoped  to 
have  gone  into  the  wilds  and  to  have  found  the  untamed  children 
of  the  forest,  and  like  Francis  Xavier  or  Las  Casas,  have  been 
their  teacher  and  father;  but  he  found  himself  pent  up  in  a  little 
gossiping  English  village,  filled  with  godless  adventurers,  women 
not  good,  and  men  worse.  He  had  never  had  any  contact  with 
them.  He  had  lived  in  what  was  really  a  cloistered  obscurity. 
His  one  idea  was  to  save  his  soul ;  his  one  feeling  was  contempt 
for  the  world;  but  they — his  parishioners — "their  talk  was  of 
bullocks."  They  had  come  to  Savannah  to  get  large  estates,  not 
to  go  to  prayers  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning;  and  to  have  free 
license,  not  to  observe  all  the  ancient  forgotten  rubrics  of  the 
Church. 


Georgia  Methodism.  21 

He  did  the  best  he  could,  and  only  when  satisfied  he  could  do 
the  colonists  no  good  did  he  resolve  to  return,  as  Charles  had  al- 
ready done,  from  whence  he  came.  The  startling  inquiry  of 
Spangenberg,  "Have  you  faith  in  Christ?  Have  you  the  witness 
in  yourself?"  still  rang  in  his  ears,  and  the  one  ruling  aim  of  his 
life  now  was  to  repose  his  soul  in  simple  trust  on  Jesus,  and 
secure  the  Spirit's  testimony  that  it  was  done.  He  was  a  servant, 
not  a  son.  The  good  seed  sown  in  Georgia  in  his  heart  did  not 
die.  The  old  truth,  to  him  so  new,  now  embraced  with  the  mind, 
became  afterwards  the  food  of  his  heart;  and  while  Mr.  Wesley 
never  returned  to  Georgia,  this  truth  did,  and  in  his  teachings 
he  lived  again  where  he  had  spent  so  many  stormy  days.  But 
it  was  a  half-century  after  he  went  away  before  John  Major  and 
Thomas  Humphries  came  to  Georgia  with  this  truth,  to  do  the 
work  he  would  fain  have  done. 

As  the  ship  that  bore  John  Wesley  to  London  passed  Grave- 
send,  another,  American  bound,  with  George  Whitefield  on  board, 
sailed  for  Savannah.  This  remarkable  man,  who  had  been  so 
attached  to  John  Wesley  and  his  brother,  at  Oxford,  and  had 
sooner  found  the  light,  was  the  first  Methodist  preacher  who  ever 
preached  in  Savannah.  Methodism  was  a  sentiment  before  it 
became  an  ecclesiasticism.  Its  central  idea  was  justification  by 
faith,  and  a  consciousness  of  it.  The  experimental,  rather  than 
doctrinal,  was  its  mark ;  and  though  George  Whitefield  differed 
from  John  Wesley  with  reference  to  predestination,  and  was  not 
connected  with  his  societies,  yet  he  was  truly  a  Methodist  Episco- 
palian.* 

His  fervid  eloquence,  his  evangelical  preaching  was  more  pleas- 
ing to  the  colonists  than  the  frigid  High  Churchism  of  Mr.  Wes- 
ley, and  soon  all  the  villagers — for  Savannah  had  in  it  but  five 
hundred  people — attended  his  ministry.  After  spending  a  year 
in  his  parish  he  decided  to  return  to  England  for  priests'  orders, 
and  to  raise  funds  for  an  orphan  house  to  be  founded  at  Bethesda, 
near  the  city. 

For  nearly  thirty  years  he  was  a  frequent  visitor  at  Savannah, 
and  was  always  gladly  welcomed,  and  his  influence  for  good 
remains  to  this  day.  In  1769,  he  brought  with  him  from  England 
a  protege,  Cornelius  Winter,  who  was  the  first  missionary  to  the 
negroes.  Winter  had  been  a  wild  boy  belonging  to  the  lower 
order  of  Englishmen.  He  was  converted  under  Mr.  Whitefield's 
preaching,  and  after  laboring  with  him  as  a  kind  of  assistant,  he 
was  induced  to  come  to  America  by  his  patron  as  a  teacher  of  the 
*Life  of  Whitefield.     Jay's  Life  of  Cornelius  Winter. 


22  History  of 

Africans,  who  were  being  now  introduced  in  numbers  as  slaves, 
to  cultivate  rice  and  cotton  on  the  seaboard.  Winter  found  a 
friend  in  James  Habersham,  who  had  come  a  year  before  as  Mr. 
Whitefield's  teacher,  but  who  was  now  a  merchant,  and  was 
installed  as  catechist  on  the  plantation  of  a  retired  Episcopal 
clergyman.  He  met  with  such  poor  success  in  his  work,  and 
found  the  planters  so  bitterly  opposed  to  his  preaching  to  the 
slaves,  that  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Whitefield,  in  1770,  a  year 
after  he  had  reached  Savannah,  he  resolved  to  return  to  England 
to  secure  ordination.  This  he  failed  to  do  on  account  of  his 
Methodism,  and  so  he  fell  into  the  ranks  of  the  Nonconformists, 
among  whom  he  was  a  leading  man  till  his  death.  Georgia,  in 
her  infancy,  had  thus  the  ministry  of  John  and  Charles  Wesley, 
Benj.  Ingham,  Delamotte,  Whitefield  and  Winter — men  whose 
names  are  familiar  to  all  students  of  church  history  as  instru- 
ments in  the  now  historic  Methodist  reformation. 


CHAPTER  U. 

The  Trustees  for  Georgia  were  many  of  them  wealthy  dissent- 
ers, and  for  over  twenty  years  after  the  settlement  of  the  colony 
there  was  no  religious  establishment.  Perfect  religious  freedom 
was  guaranteed,  save  to  the  Catholics.  Jews,  Presbyterians  and 
Lutherans  were  side  by  side  with  the  Church  of  England  men. 
With  the  first  body  of  colonists  came  an  Episcopal  clergyman, 
who  became  rector  of  the  first  parish.  This  was  Dr.  Henry  Her- 
bert, who  remained  in  Georgia  only  three  months;  *he  died  on 
his  passage  home,  and  was  succeeded  by  Samuel  Quincy,  a  native 
of  Massachusetts,  who  came  to  Savannah  in  May,  1733.  He  held 
service  in  a  hut  made  of  split  boards.  He  met  with  much  oppo- 
sition and  hard  usage,  and  only  left  the  colony  after  John  Wesley 
came.  Of  Wesley's  history  while  here  we  have  already  spoken. 
Charles  Wesley  and  Benj.  Ingham,  the  spiritual  father  of  the 
Countess  of  Huntington  came  over  with  John  Wesley  and  labored 
at  Frederica;  by  1737  they  had  all  returned  to  England.  Mr. 
Whitefield  came,  as  we  have  seen,  just  after  Mr.  Wesley  left;  he 
remained  two  years.  The  church  at  Frederica  did  not  prosper, 
nor  did  the  one  at  Savannah.  In  1755,  the  Trustees  surrendered 
the  colony  to  the  Crown,  and  the  Church  of  England  became  the 
established  church.  Parishes  were  formed;  in  three  of  these 
there  were  churches :  one  in  Savannah,  one  in  Burke  county,  and 
one  in  Augusta.  The  Churches  outside  of  Savannah  were  served 
by  missionaries  sent  out  by  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of 
the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts.  There  seems  to  have  been  no  pros- 
perity in  this  church,  and  there  were  perhaps  not  fifty  communi- 
cants in  all  the  colony.  Although  the  Parish  of  St.  George  in 
Burke  had  a  church  where  is  now  Old  Church,  and  a  glebe  at- 
tached, they  could  not  provide  for  a  rector,  nor  retain  one.  At 
the  Revolution  the  field  was  entirely  abandoned,  and  for  near 
twenty  years  after  its  close  we  have  been  able  to  find  no  foot- 
print of  an  Episcopal  clergyman.  Methodism  had  over  twelve 
thousand  members  in  her  fold  before  an  Episcopal  bishop  ever 
visited  Georgia. 

The  Salzburgers  were  a  band  of  pious  Austrians.  who  adhered 
to  the  doctrines  of  Luther,  and  who  were  driven  from  their  native 
hills  by  Catholic  persecution.  Frederick  William,  of  Prussia, 
gave  them  a  shelter  in  Friesland,  and  his  relative,  George  II., 
offered  them  a  home  in  Georgia.    A  colony  of  them  came  in  the 

*Bishop  Stevens'  Mem.  Sermon,  p.  9. 


24  History  of 

first  shipload  of  emigrants,  and  found  a  home  in  what  is  now 
Effingham   county,    some   twenty   miles    from    Savannah.      They 
afterwards  removed  their  village  to  a  healthier  location,  and  call- 
ed their  new  town  Ebenezer.     They  were  a  pious  people,  indus- 
trious and  frugal,  and  their  pastors  men  of  fine  intellectual  cul- 
ture.    They  spoke,  however,  only  the  German  tongue  and  pre- 
served their  German  usages,  and  were  not  aggressive.    No  growth 
was  to  be  expected  save  from  within  and  from  immigration.   The 
German  immigration,  however,  chose  the  rich  valleys  of  Pennsyl- 
vania in  preference  to  the  pine  woods  of  Georgia,  and  the  Luther- 
ans in  Georgia  had  grown  but  little  to  the  period  we  are  now 
reaching.     They  had  one  church  at  Ebenezer,  one  in  Savannah, 
and  one  in  Goshen,  in  1786.     The  first  colony  of  Presbyterians 
came  in   1735,  and  fixed  their  settlement  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Altamaha,  at  a  place  they  called  New  Inverness,  which  is  now 
Darien.    This  colony  had  Pastor  McLeod  as  their  spiritual  guide. 
How   long  they   remained  there,  or   whether  they   ever  built   a 
church,  we  can  not  discover.     It  is  probable  the  colony  was  soon 
broken  up  and  the  colonists  scattered.     There  are  a  large  number 
of  Highland  names  in  Lower  Georgia — McLeods,  MacPhersons, 
Mclntoshes,  and  the  like,  which  probably  owe   their  origin   to 
these  immigrants.     A  second  body  of  Presbyterians  were  induced 
by  Georgia  Galphin,  a  Scotch-Irishman  and  an  Indian  Trader, 
to  come  over  and  settle  in  Jefferson  county,  then  St.  George  Par- 
ish.   They  were  dissenters  from  the  Scotch  Church,  were  Scotch- 
Irish  people,  who  followed  Mr.  Erskine.     The  first  Presbyterian 
church  of  which  we  have  any  authentic  account  was  in  Savannah, 
and  was  established  in  1760.     A  few  years  before  that,  however, 
a  colony  of  English  Congregationalists  came  over  to  this  country, 
and  after  spending  a  short  time  in  New  England,  came  south 
to  Dorchester,  S.  C.,  and  thence  to  Liberty  county,  in  Georgia, 
where  they  built  Old   Midway   Church.     They  were  people   of 
some  means,  and  had  a  ministry  of  genuine  piety  and  great  intel- 
ligence.    Counting  these  with  the  Presbyterians,  there  were  in 
all  three  Presbyterian  congregations  in  the  State  prior  to   1786. 
In  1773,  Sir  James  Wright  made  a  new  purchase  from  the  In- 
dians,  and   that   fine   country   north   and   west   of   Augusta   was 
bought.     It  was  settled  by  emigrants  from  Virginia  and  North 
and  South  Carolina.     Daniel  Marshall,  who  had  been  a  Congre- 
gationalist,  and  then  a  Baptist,  came  near  that  time,  and  a  little 
before  him.  Edmund  Bottsford,  another  Baptist,  from  South  Car- 
olina, crossed  the  river  into  Burke  county  to  preach.    He  founded 
Bottsford  Baptist  church  near  the  same  epoch  that  Daniel  Mar- 


Georgia  Methodism.  25 

shall  founded  that  of  Kiokee.*  Silas  Mercer  came  soon  after. 
These  three  were  good  men  and  great  men,  and  worked  with 
great  zeal,  itinerating  through  the  country.  Some  of  them  were 
arrested  by  the  Episcopal  magistrates  and  fined,  but  they  went  on 
in  their  work.  In  1784,  the  first  association  was  organized,  which 
consisted  of  six  churches,  three  of  which  were  in  South  Carolina. 

There  was  then,  in  1786,  in  Georgia,  as  far  as  we  can  get  the 
facts,  three  Episcopal  churches  without  rectors,  three  Lutheran 
churches,  three  Presbyterian,  and  three  Baptist.  We  may  safely 
say  there  were  not  five  hundred  Christian  people  in  all. 

The  colony  now  numbered  eighty  thousand  inhabitants,  white 
and  black.  The  social  features  of  the  country  were  those  of  all 
frontier  settlements.  In  another  chapter,  we  have  endeavored  to 
represent  them.  The  field  was  indeed  a  wide  one,  a  hard  one, 
and  yet  an  inviting  one.  What  Methodism  had  to  do  in  changing 
this  wild  into  a  garden,  we  are  now  to  see.  In  December,  1784, 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  of  America  was  organized,  and 
in  the  spring  of  1785,  the  first  Methodist  preacher  was  sent  to 
Georgia. 

*Campbell  's  Baptists. 


CHAPTER  III. 
1 786- 1 794. 

The  first  Methodist  society  in  America  was  probably  organized 
by  Robert  Strawbridge,  in  Maryland,  before  1766*.  During 
that  year,  in  a  sail-loft  in  New  York,  at  the  instance  of  a  good 
woman  who  had  been  a  Methodist,  Philip  Embury  certainly  or- 
ganized a  society.f  Robert  Williams,  in  Virginia,  was  at  work 
soon  after,  and  then  Mr.  Wesley  sent  Mr.  Rankin  and  Mr.  Rodda 
from  England  to  take  charge  of  the  societies.  More  laborers 
were  needed,  and  when  Mr.  Wesley  made  a  call  for  volunteers  to 
come  to  America,  Francis  Asbury  offered  himself,  and  in  the 
autumn  of  that  year  sailed  from  Bristol  to  Philadelphia. 

The  war  of  the  Revolution  began  and  ended.  All  the  English 
preachers,  at  its  beginning,  returned  to  England,  save  Francis 
Asbury,  whose  love  for  the  American  Methodists  was  stronger 
than  his  love  for  England. 

There  were  no  sacraments,  and  there  were  no  ordained  preach- 
ers. Mr.  Wesley  saw  something  must  be  done  for  America,  and 
acting  in  accordance  with  his  views  of  church  polity,  he  decided 
to  ordain  a  bishop  for  these  churches,  and  so  ordained  Dr.  Thomas 
Coke,  who  was  to  come  to  America,  and  set  apart  Mr.  Francis 
Asbury  for  the  superintendency  of  them.  The  preachers  were 
summoned  from  their  circuits,  and  they  assembled  in  Baltimore, 
in  December,  1784,  and  met  at  the  Lovely  Lane  Meeting  House, 
to  organize  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  of  America.  Mr. 
Asbury  and  Thomas  Coke  were  elected  to  the  Episcopal  office, 
and  then  Mr.  Asbury  was  ordained  by  Dr.  Coke,  assisted  by 
Otterbein  and  other  elders. 

Dr.  Coke  was  to  be  a  joint  Bishop  with  Asbury,  but  he  was 
little  more  than  a  bishop  in  name,  and  upon  Asbury  reposed  the 
great  burden  of  overseeing  and  directing  the  efforts  of  the  evan- 
gelists. No  man  could  have  been  chosen  better  suited  to  the 
place. 

There  were  now  ten  thousand  Methodists  in  America,  much 
the  largest  part  of  them  in  Maryland  and  Virginia. 

Asbury  realized  the  importance  of  the  frontier,  and  at  once 
sought  to  occupy  it.  The  Western  frontier  was  the  county  of 
Transylvania,  in  Virginia,  now  the  State  of  Kentucky.  The 
southern  was  the  State  of  Georgia. 

The  First  Conference,  after  the  Christmas  Conference  of  1784, 

*Letter  in  Pacific  Methodist,     t Stevens'  History. 


Georgia  Methodism.  27 

was  held  in  North  Carolina,  at  the  house  of  Green  Hill,  who  was 
a  local  preacher.  Here  Beverley  Allen,  who  had  been  a  traveling 
preacher  for  several  years,  was  ordained  an  elder,  and  appointed 
to  Georgia. 

The  conference  at  which  he  was  appointed  included  in  it  all 
the  preachers  of  Virginia  and  North  and  South  Carolina  who 
could  be  present ;  yet  they  were  accommodated  in  one  country 
house.  Dr.  Coke,  with  his  fiery  impetuosity,  had  excited  great 
hostility  to  himself  and  the  societies,  as  he  passed  through  Vir- 
ginia, by  his  vehement  attack  upon  domestic  slavery.  When  he 
reached  North  Carolina,  finding  that  the  laws  of  the  State,  even 
then,  forbade  emancipation,  he  exercised  a  prudence  unusual  with 
him,  and  preached  simply  the  Gospel ;  but  the  Conference,  through 
his  influence,  passed  the  most  decided  resolutions  against  slavery, 
and  insisted  that  the  Church  should  take  earnest  measures  to 
secure  immediate  emancipation.  These  resolutions  accomplished 
nothing  except  to  throw  more  serious  obstacles  in  the  way  of 
the  already  embarrassed  preachers. 

When  Paul  and  Barnabas  went  forth  on  their  missionary  tour 
through  slave-holding  Greece,  they  went  from  the  Primitive 
Church  unhampered  with  instructions  about  slavery ;  but  the  chil- 
dren were  wiser  than  the  fathers,  and  it  required  the  experience 
of  a  few  sad  years  to  teach  Asbury  and  his  associates  that  both 
master  and  slave  would  perish  if  they  persisted  in  their  course. 

The  first  herald  of  Methodism  to  Georgia  had  a  sad  and  tragic 
history.  He  began  to  travel  in  1782  in  Virginia,  and  for  a  while 
traveled  with  Asbury,*  preaching  with  great  zeal  and  success. 
There  was  quite  an  emigration  from  Virginia  to  Wilkes  county, 
in  upper  Georgia,  after  the  Revolution,  and  as  his  brother  was 
living  in  that  section  after  Allen's  location,  it  is  probable  that 
he  had  already  removed  there  when  Allen  was  appointed  to  the 
State,  and  that  he  had,  besides,  acquaintances  and  friends.  Al- 
len was  at  this  time  a  man  of  fine  personal  appearance,  and  an 
interesting  and  zealous  preacher,  and  large  crowds  attended  his 
ministry.  Allen,  however,  did  not  come  to  Georgia  at  that  time, 
but  seventy  members  of  society  were  reported  at  the  next  con- 
ference gathered  by  some  unknown  local  preacher. f  He  then 
came  to  Georgia,  and  was  an  assistant  presiding  elder  to  Richard 
Ivy,  and  the  next  year  was  sent  to  South  Carolina  again,  and 
stationed  on  Edisto  Island.  Here  he  committed  a  flagrant 
crime, £  and  in  1792  was  expelled  from  the  connection.  He  seems 
now  to  have  returned  to  Georgia  and  gone  into  mercantile  busi- 

*Asbury's  Journal.      tWMte.     J  Mood. 


28  History  of 

ness  with  his  brother,  Billy  Allen.  He  became  embarrassed  finan- 
cially, and  while  in  Augusta  was  threatened  with  arrest  for  debt 
by  the  United  States  Marshall,  Major  Forsyth.  He  refused  to 
submit  to  arrest,  and  when  Major  Forsyth  attempted  to  take 
him  forcibly,  he  killed  him.  He  fled  to  Elbert,  was  captured  and 
imprisoned.  He  was  released  by  a  mob  of  the  citizens,*  and 
fled  to  the  wilds  of  Kentucky.  Here  he  practiced  medicine,  and 
in  his  house  Peter  Cartwright  boarded  when  a  boy  at  school. f 
We  have  no  further  authentic  tidings  of  this  gifted,  but,  alas ! 
wicked  man.  He  was,  as  far  as  we  can  find  from  the  minutes, 
the  first  apostate  Methodist  preacher  in  America.  For  some 
reason  Bishop  Asbury  always  distrusted  him,  and  so  expressed 
himself  to  Dr.  Coke.J  He  had  done  but  little  for  Georgia  his 
first  year  in  it,  and  when  the  Virginia  Conference  met  at  Lanes, 
in  North  Carolina,  Thos.  Humphries  and  John  Major  volunteered 
to  come  to  the  State,  and  were  appointed  to  succeed  him.** 
The  States  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  were  thrown  into  one 
district,  and  James  Foster  was  made  presiding  elder.  He  was  a 
Virginian  and  had  been  a  preacher  since  1776.  He  had  traveled 
first  in  Virginia  for  two  years,  but  excessive  fasting  and  excessive 
labor  in  the  open  air  had  destroyed  his  constitution,  and  he  was 
forced  to  locate.  He  removed  to  South  Carolina,  where  he  found 
some  emigrant  Methodists,  and  formed  a  circuit  among  them. 
He  then  re-entered  the  conference,  and  took  charge  of  the  dis- 
trict of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia.  ||  This  toil  was  too  great 
for  him.  His  mental  as  well  as  his  bodily  strength  gave  way, 
and  he  retired  finally,  after  one  year  on  the  district.  He  spent 
the  rest  of  his  life  in  visiting  among  Methodist  families,  conduct- 
ing their  family  devotions  with  much  propriety,  though  unable 
to  preach  to  them.  He  was  a  good  preacher,  noted  for  his 
amenity,  his  fine  personal  appearance,  and  his  usefulness. § 

Thomas  Humphries,  who  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  Georgia 
work,  was  a  Virginian.  He  entered  the  conference  at  Ellis  Meet- 
ing house  in  Virginia,  and  after  traveling  three  years  in  Virginia 
and  North  Carolina,  was  appointed  to  Georgia  in  connection 
with  Tohn  Major;  after  traveling  a  few  years  in  Georgia  he  re- 
moved to  South  Carolina  where  he  itinerated  a  short  time.  He 
then  married  a  lady  of  wealth  and  position,  and  located  in  the 
bounds  of  the  Pedee  Circuit,  South  Carolina.  Here  he  did  good 
work  as  a  local  preacher. §  He  was  a  fine-looking  man,  with  an 
exceedingly  bright  eye,  which  sparkled  and  flashed  when  he  was 

*Mood.     t Cartwright 's  Life,     t  Asbury 's  Journal.     **Lee's  Life,  p.   183. 
||Stevens'  History  M.  E.  Church.     $Travis. 


Georgia  Methodism.  29 

excited.  He  preached  with  great  earnestnes  and  power,  and  was 
remarkable  for  native  wit  and  fearlessness.* 

With  him  to  Georgia  came  John  Major,  the  weeping  prophet. 
He,  too,  was  a  Virginian,  who  had  entered  the  conference  with 
Thomas  Humphries,  Philip  Bruce  and  John  Easter.  He  was  a 
man  of  unquestionable  piety,  and  in  the  pulpit  was  remarkable 
for  his  pathos  and  power.  He  did  hard  work  in  Georgia  and 
endeared  himself  to  all  the  people.  His  constitution  gave  way 
under  the  tax  he  laid  upon  it,  and  when  Francis  Asbury  came 
to  Georgia,  Major  wasted  by  disease  and  near  his  end,  met  him  in 
South  Carolina.  The  dying  preacher  was  unable  to  get  to  the  first 
conference,  and  died  at  the  house  of  Bro.  Herbert,  the  grand- 
father of  Mrs.  Dr.  E.  H.  Myers.  Asbury,  on  his  visit  to  Georgia 
afterwards,  visited  his  grave  to  drop  the  tear  of  loving  remem- 
brance upon  it.  He  says  of  him  in  the  minutes:  "John  Major, 
a  simple-hearted  man,  a  living,  loving  soul,  who  died  as  he  lived, 
full  of  faith  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  ten  years  in  the  work,  useful 
and  blameless. "f 

The  two  preachers  started  from  conference  for  their  work. 
They  probably  came  at  once  to  Wilkes  county,  where  there  were 
a  few  Virginia  Methodists,  and  then  began  to  explore  and  map 
out  the  country.  They  found  the  people  everywhere  destitute  of 
the  Word.  Save  one  or  two  Baptist  churches  organized  by  Daniel 
Marshall  and  Silas  Mercer,  there  was  no  church  of  any  name 
north  of  Augusta.  In  a  preceding  chapter,  we  have  given  a  view 
of  the  church  privileges  of  the  people.  The  western  boundary  of 
the  State  was  the  Oconee  River,  the  southern  the  Florida  line ; 
in  all  this  area  there  was  not  more  than  seven  Christian  minis- 
ters. The  settlements  were  upon  the  creeks  and  rivers,  and  the 
inhabitants  were  thinly  settled  all  over  the  face  of  the  country. 
The  dwellings  were  pole-cabins  in  the  country,  and  even  in  the 
cities  were  built  largely  of  logs.  There  were  no  roads — only 
pathways  and  Indian  trails.  There  were  no  houses  of  worship, 
and  the  missionaries  preached  only  in  private  dwellings.  The 
work  had  all  to  be  laid  out,  and  for  the  first  year  it  is  probable  the 
two  preachers  visited  together  the  setlements  which  were  thick- 
est, and  organized  societies  when  they  could.  From  the  minutes 
we  conclude  that  they  compassed  the  country  from  the  Indian 
frontier,  on  the  north,  to  the  lower  part  of  Burke  county,  on  the 
south.  During  this  year  four  hundred  and  thirty  members  were 
brought  into  the  society,  the  larger  number  in  Wilkes.     Among 


*Dr.  L.  Y.  Pierce.     t  Minutes. 


30  History  of 

them  was  Thomas  Haynes  of  Uchee  Creek,  and  Henry  Parks,  of 
whom  we  shall  have  more  to  say. 

The  people  among  whom  they  labored  were  none  of  them  rich 
and  none  of  them  poor.  The  land  was  good  and  open  to  all.  Cat- 
tle ranged  over  grass-covered  woods,  and  hogs  fattened  on  the 
mast  of  the  forest  trees.  There  was  no  money,  and  but  little 
need  of  it.  Luxury  was  an  impossibility  to  men  so  remote  from 
cities  and  seaports.  The  people  were  without  religion,  but  they 
were  free  from  many  of  the  temptations  to  which  those  in  more 
thickly-settled  communities  are  exposed.  There  was  some  in- 
fidelity among  the  upper  classes,  but  perhaps  none  among  the 
mass  of  the  people. 

They  were  free  from  licentiousness,  dishonesty  and  cowardice. 
They  drank  to  excess ;  they  fought  on  muster-days ;  they  gouged 
and  bit  each  other ;  they  spent  the  Sabbath  in  fishing,  hunting 
and  seeing  after  cattle ;  and  they  were  somewhat  indolent,  too 
content  with  their  condition ;  they  had,  however,  the  elements 
in  them  out  of  which  to  make  good  characters — strong  sense  and 
much  nobility  of  soul.  Humphries  and  Major  found  the  harvest- 
field  bending  with  the  ripened  grain,  and  they  thrust  in  the  sickle 
to  reap  abundantly.  Among  those  converted  we  have  mentioned 
Henry  Parks.  He  was  a  strong,  brave,  energetic  young  man, 
who,  from  North  Carolina,  with  his  new  wife  and  one  child, 
came  to  Elbert  county,  where  he  was  employed  to  oversee  a  new 
plantation.  His  wife  was  Elizabeth  Justice,  wdio  had  been  bap- 
tized in  Eastern  Virginia  by  that  good  man,  Devereaux  Jarratt; 
she  became  early  a  Methodist,  but  her  husband  had  never  seen 
one  of  this  sect  so  often  spoken  against.  They  lived  together  a 
little  while  on  the  banks  of  the  Yadkin,  in  North  Carolina,  out 
of  reach  of  her  preachers,  and  then  came  to  Georgia,  in  which 
there  were  few  preachers  of  any  kind,  and  no  Methodists  at  all 
when  they  first  reached  the  State.  One  day,  the  news  was  brought 
that  two  Methodist  preachers  would  preach  near  them.  She 
easily  persuaded  her  husband  to  go  and  hear  her  ministers.  He 
went,  and  for  the  first  time  heard  the  doctrine  of  universal  atone- 
ment and  possible  salvation  for  all,  preached  by  the  sainted  Major. 
He  determined,  if  he  could,  to  be  saved.  He  was  soon  converted, 
joined  the  Methodist  church,  made  his  house  a  preaching-place, 
and  afterwards,  with  the  help  of  his  friends,  built  a  chapel.  God 
prospered  him  as  far  as  he  wished  to  be  prospered  in  worldly  mat- 
ters, an  blessed  him  with  a  large  family.  Of  these,  William  J. 
Parks  was  the  youngest  son.  Henry  Parks  was  a  very  striking 
character.     His  life  had  been  calculated  to  make  him  what  he 


Georgia  Methodism.  31 

was.  In  the  wilds  of  Kentucky  and  of  southwestern  Virginia 
he  had  spent  some  of  his  early  years,  combating  the  hardships  of 
the  frontier  and  confronting  the  savage  tribes  of  the  West.  Then 
in  the  army,  a  brave  and  untiring  soldier,  and  then  in  the  new 
lands  of  Georgia,  he  was  forced  to  bring  into  exercise  every 
manly  quality;  and  after  he  became  a  member  of  a  despised  sect 
of  Christians,  his  courage  was  well  added  to  his  faith.  His 
descendants  are  among  the  leading  Methodists  of  Georgia,  and 
are  very  numerous.  Though  the  old  patriarch  passed  away  in 
1845,  stiU  ms  good  works  do  follow  him. 

The  preachers  had  done  good  work  during  the  year,  and  at 
the  conference  they  were  reinforced.  Georgia  was  made  a  sepa- 
rate district,  and  Richard  Ivy  was  sent  as  presiding  elder.  Cir- 
cuits were  now  laid  out.  The  Burke  circuit,  including  all  that 
section  south  and  southwest  of  Augusta,  was  placed  in  charge 
of  Major,  with  a  young  man,  Matthew  Harris,  to  assist  him. 
Thomas  Humphries  and  Moses  Park  took  charge  of  all  the  coun- 
try north  and  northwest  of  Augusta. 

Of  Ivy,  the  presiding  elder,  the  minutes  say:  "He  was  from 
Virginia,  a  little  man  of  quick  and  solid  parts.  He  was  a  holy, 
self-denying  Christian  that  lived  to  be  useful.  Many  of  the 
eighteen  years  that  he  was  in  the  work  he  acted  as  an  elder  in 
charge  of  a  district."  Ware  tells  the  following  anecdote  of  him: 
"The  conduct  of  the  English  preachers,  who  had  been  loyal  to 
their  King,  had  excited  towards  the  Methodist  preachers  a  gen- 
eral feeling  of  distrust  on  the  part  of  the  patriots.  The  native 
American  preachers  were  all  in  full  sympathy  with  the  colonists, 
but  often  they  had  to  encounter  this,  to  them,  painful  and  dan- 
gerous suspicion.  Some  soldiers  in  New  Jersey,  where  Ivy  was 
preaching,  had  loudly  threatened  to  arrest  the  next  Methodist 
preacher  that  came  along.  Ivy's  appointment  was  near  where 
the  army  in  the  Jerseys  was  in  camp.  He  went  to  his  appoint- 
ment. The  soldiers  came,  and  the  officers,  walking  to  the  table, 
crossed  their  swords  upon  it.  The  brave  little  man  took  for  his 
text,  'Fear  not.  little  flock.'  As  he  preached  he  spoke  of  the 
folly  of  fearing  the  soldiers  of  freedom,  and  throwing  open  his 
bosom,  he  said:  'Sirs,  I  would  fain  show  you  my  heart;  if  it 
beats  not  high  for  liberty,  may  it  cease  to  beat.'  The  soldiers 
were  conquered,  and  they  left  the  house,  huzzaing  for  the  Metho- 
dist parson."  After  traveling  in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina, 
he  came  to  Georgia,  where  he  was  made  Presiding  Elder.  After 
four  years'  service  his  health  gave  way,  and  the  needs  of  an 


32  History  of 

invalid  mother  called  him  back  to  Virginia,  where,  a  year  after 
his  location,  he  passed  to  his  final  reward. 

The  preachers  pursued  their  labors  with  great  zeal.  A  won- 
derful success  attended  them,  and  at  the  end  of  the  year  there 
were  over  eleven  hundred  members  in  the  society.  The  church 
had  nearly  tripled  its  membership  in  one  year. 

The  next  conference  was  held  at  Charleston.  Dr.  Coke  was 
present  with  Asbury.  Coke  records  his  joy  at  the  success  of  the 
work  in  Georgia  as  well  as  in  South  Carolina. 

This  success  was  great,  but  not  to  be  wondered  at.  The  col- 
liers of  Kingswood  were  not  more  destitute  of  the  Gospel  than 
the  pioneers  of  Georgia.  Ivy,  Major  and  Humphries  were  no 
common  men.  They  belonged  to  a  peculiar  and  hitherto  unknown 
sect,  and  men  heard  for  the  first  time  the  doctrines  of  a  universal 
atonement  and  the  Spirit's  witness.  They  came  in  crowds  to 
hear  the  preachers ;  and  Humphries  with  fiery  appeals,  and  Major 
with  tender  entreaty,  presented  the  broad  invitations  of  the  Gos- 
pel. Then,  too,  the  preachers  went  everywhere.  Wherever  there 
was  a  settlement,  and  a  private  house  could  be  secured  as  a  preach- 
ing-place, there  they  were. 

During  this  year,  Humphries  must  have  preached  in  Augusta, 
and  perhaps  in  Savannah,  but  all  that  was  accomplished  was  in 
the  rural  settlements.  The  Washington  Circuit  was  much  the 
largest.  It  included  all  that  section  of  northeastern  and  eastern 
Georgia  above  Augusta.  It  was  peopled  by  a  sterling  class 
of  settlers,  and  among  them  there  were  some  Virginia  Metho- 
dists. The  Baptists  were  already  there,  and  so  perhaps  were  a 
few  Presbyterians.  In  the  lower  part  of  the  work,  Jefferson, 
Screven  and  Burke,  the  people  were  older  settlers  and  were  pos- 
sessed of  larger  estates.  The  prominent  families  were  either 
adherents  of  the  Episcopal  church,  and  were  without  any  pastoral 
care,  or  were  Presbyterians.  In  the  east  of  the  country  were 
some  Baptists,  but  among  them  there  were  many  who  had  no 
religious  privileges,  and  Methodism  was  not  without  her  blessing 
to  them  and  to  all. 

The  interest  was  now  sufficient  to  call  for  the  visits  of  a 
Bishop,  and  in  April  of  1788  Francis  Asbury  visited  Georgia  for 
the  first  time. 

Francis  Asbury,  to  whom  the  Methodists  of  Georgia  are  more 
indebted  than  to  any  man  living  or  dead  for  what  they  are, 
was  an  Englishman.  He  was  born  in  Birmingham,  England,  in 
April  of  1745.  He  was  converted  when  a  boy,  and  began  to 
preach  before  he  was  seventeen  years  old.     He  was  a  traveling 


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The  Wesley  Oak. 


Georgia  Methodism.  35 

preacher  in  the  English  connection  before  he  was  twenty-two; 
he  traveled  for  three  years  in  England,  and  in  1771,  volunteered 
to  come  as  missionary  to  America.  For  five  years  before  the 
Revolution  began,  he  spent  his  time  as  preacher  in  charge  and 
as  superintendent  in  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland  and 
Virginia.  The  English  preachers,  although  they  deplored  the 
course  of  the  mother  country  as  well  as  that  of  the  colonies, 
were  loyalists,  and  as  soon  as  the  war  was  fully  upon  the  coun- 
try, returned  to  England — all  but  Mr.  Asbury.  He  would  not 
leave  his  post,  and  endeavored  to  avoid  censure  by  preserving  a 
strict  neutrality.  He  became  an  object  of  suspicion  to  the  pa- 
triots in  Maryland,  and  retired  to  Delaware,  where,  with  Judge 
White,  he  remained  in  such  retirement  as  was  needful,  working, 
however,  all  he  could,  and  before  the  war  ended  he  was  as  far 
south  as  North  Carolina. 

We  have  already  marked  the  fact  that  Mr.  Wesley  appointed 
him  superintendent  of  the  American  societies,  and  sent  Dr.  Coke 
to  ordain  him.  Mr.  Asbury,  whose  views  of  church  government 
were  not  entirely  at  one  with  Mr.  Wesley's,  refused  to  be  or- 
dained unless  he  was  elected  by  his  peers.  This  was  done  unani- 
mously, and  he  was  made  a  superintending  Bishop  by  the  laying 
on  of  the  hands  of  the  Presbytery.  He  now  began  his  episcopal 
work.  Thirty  years  afterwards  he  ceased  from  it  to  die.  He 
had  been  a  Bishop  but  little  over  three  years  when  he  came  to 
Georgia  to  hold  the  first  Georgia  Conference. 

At  this  time  he  was  forty-three  years  old.  He  was  of  medium 
stature,  rather  low,  of  delicate  frame.  His  eye  was  bright  and 
clear ;  his  hair  lay  smoothly  on  his  forehead,  and  was  even  then 
sprinkled  with  gray.  In  manner  he  was  grave  and  dignified. 
His  voice  was  firm  and  commanding.  He  was  gentle  as  a  wo- 
man at  the  fireside  or  with  his  brethren,  but  he  was  as  inflexible 
as  granite  where  principle  was  involved. 

Censure  reached  him  very  quick,  for  he  was  peculiarly  sensi- 
tive; but  he  never  allowed  it  to  change  his  course.  He  never 
spared  himself  nor  those  he  loved.  The  work — the  Master's 
work — was  all  to  him.  He  led ;  he  said  follow,  not  go ;  and  the 
foremost  soldier  found  his  brave  general  at  his  side.  His  story 
is  the  story  of  a  hero.  In  no  annals  is  there  to  be  found  the 
tale  of  greater  devotion  to  Christ  and  humanity,  than  in  the 
story  of  Francis  Asbury's  life  and  labors. 

The  conference  which  he  had  appointed  was  to  be  held  in 
the  forks  of  Broad  River,  then  in  Wilkes,  now  Madison  county, 
probably  at  the  home  of  James  Marks,  who  lived  there  and  who 


36  History  of 

was  a  Methodist.  Leaving  Charleston  on  the  fourteenth  of 
March,  in  company  with  Isaac  Smith,  he  made  his  way  up  the 
Saluda  and  to  the  Broad  River  Quarterly-meeting  in  South  Caro- 
lina. Here  he  met  Mason;  and  here  too  was  Major,  who  had 
come  to  meet  him.  Consumption  was  wearing  this  saintly  man 
into  his  grave;  but  he  was  well  enough  to  speak  after  Asbury 
had  preached.  After  being  benighted  and  lost  the  next  night, 
they  crossed  the  Savannah,  and  in  the  forks  of  Broad  River, 
he  says  in  his  Journal,  the  next  day  the  conference  assembled. 
There  were  ten  members  present — six  members  of  the  confer- 
ence and  four  probationers.  The  good  Major  was  not  able  to 
meet  with  his  brethren ;  on  his  way  to  conference  he  sank,  and 
near  the  time  it  ended  its  session  he  went  to  rest. 

Who  were  the  members  of  this  conference?  Richard  Ivy, 
Thomas  Humphries,  Moses  Park,  Hope  Hull,  James  Connor, 
Bennett  Maxey,  Isaac  Smith  and  Reuben  Ellis  were  certainly  of 
them.  Who  was  the  tenth?  Probably  Mason  from  the  adjoin- 
ing circuit  in  South  Carolina.  Of  these  only  six  were  to  remain 
in  Georgia.  Three  or  four  of  them  were  but  boys;  the  rest  un- 
married men  of  mature  years.  They  had  a  prospect  before  them 
at  which  any  heart  save  the  Christian's  might  well  quail.  They 
were  to  travel  through  the  wilds  of  a  frontier,  to  swim  creeks 
and  rivers,  to  sleep  in  smoky  cabins,  to  preach  every  day  to 
many  or  few.  They  had  no  hope  of  receiving  more  than  twenty- 
four  pounds  Continental  money  for  support,  and  it  would  have 
been  a  wild  hope  to  have  expected  that.  They  had  the  prospect 
of  saving  souls,  and  what  were  rags  and  penury  in  comparison 
to  that? 

They  received  their  appointments,  and  the  Bishop  and  visiting 
preachers  bade  farewell  to  the  picket-guards,  who  were  to  hold 
the  frontier,  and  they  were  left  alone.  One  among  them,  how- 
ever, we  shall  see  often  in  the  course  of  this  history.  A  man 
he  is  who  is  to  make  his  mark  in  Georgia,  who  is  to  exert  an 
influence  in  Church  and  State  such  as  few  men  have  exerted. 
This  was  Hope  Hull — if  not  the  father  of  Georgia  Methodism, 
yet  the  man  who  was  to  be  second  to  no  other  in  fostering  it. 

He  was  born  in  Worcester  county,  Md.,  in  1763,  and  at  the 
first  conference  held  after  the  organization  of  the  church,  he 
was  admitted.  He  was  at  that  time  a  young  house  carpenter 
of  Baltimore. 

He  was  a  man  of  large  frame,  with  a  broad  forehead,  a  clear 
blue  eye,  heavy  over-hanging  eyebrows,  and  one  whose  expres- 
sion of  face  indicated  a  decided  character.     Of  the  large  class 


Georgia  Methodism.  37 

admitted,  he  was  destined  to  the  highest  distinction  and  the 
greatest  usefulness.  From  that  conference  he  went  forth  as 
assistant  to  Joshua  Hartley  on  Salisbury  circuit,  in  North  Caro- 
lina. The  Salisbury  Circuit  was  a  large  and  important  one, 
which  had  been  traveled  the  year  before  by  Jesse  Lee  and  Isaac 
Smith.  The  next  year  he  was  placed  in  charge  on  the  Amelia 
Circuit,  Virginia;  but  before  the  end  of  the  year,  perhaps  in  its 
beginning,  he  was  sent  to  the  Pedee  Circuit,  South  Carolina, 
where  in  connection  with  Jeremiah  Mastin,  he  was  engaged  in 
a  most  wonderful  revival,  and  gathered  into  the  societies  eight 
hundred  and  twenty-three  members,  and  had  twenty-two  preach- 
ing-houses built.*  His  great  ability  and  his  remarkable  success 
made  him  the  valued  aid  of  the  Bishop;  and  now  that  his  old 
presiding  elder,  Richard  Ivy,  was  in  Georgia,  he  came  with  As- 
bury,  and  was  appointed  to  the  Washington  Circuit.  He  was 
called  the  Broad  Axe  Preacher,  because  of  the  power  of  his  min- 
istry. His  style  was  awakening  and  inviting.  He  dealt  in  no 
broad  generalities,  but  portrayed  the  heart  with  a  precision  that 
astonished  his  hearers.  He  told  them  what  they  thought,  how 
they  felt  and  what  they  did,  with  such  wonderful  exactness,  that 
many  thought  he  had  learned  of  them  from  those  who  knew 
them.  He  was  very  earnest  and  full  of  unction.  His  voice 
was  clear  as  a  clarion  and  of  immense  power,  and  he  sang  with 
great  sweetness.  The  anathemas  of  the  law  were  followed  by 
him  with  the  sweet  comforts  of  the  Gospel.**  With  James  Con- 
nor to  assist  him,  he  was  sent  on  the  Washington  Circuit.  Pe- 
tersburg, in  Elbert,  was  the  largest  town  north  of  Augusta,  and 
was  in  his  circuit.  Washington  was  a  small  village  in  a  very 
prosperous  and  growing  country. 

The  country,  embracing  more  than  a  half-dozen  of  the  at 
present  counties  of  Georgia,  is  still  one  of  the  most  desirable 
in  the  State.  At  this  time  it  was  just  being  settled,  and  was 
one  of  great  loveliness.  The  grand  groves  of  oak  and  hickory 
had  not  been  felled  save  in  occasional  spots.  The  annual  fires 
of  the  Indian  had  kept  down  all  undergrowth,  and  the  demands 
of  the  stock-raiser  had  still  called  for  those  annual  burnings ; 
so  that  grass  and  flowers  and  flowering  shrubs  covered  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth  with  a  vesture  equal  to  that  of  a  regal  park. 
Herds  of  deer  and  flocks  of  turkey  were  still  on  hill-top  and 
covert.  The  settlers  had  for  only  a  few  years  peopled  these 
delightful  hills,  and  had  only  robbed  them  of  their  wildness. 
They  were  many  of  them  from  among  the  best  people  of  North 

*Dr.  Coke.     **Dr.  L.  Pierce,  in  Sprague. 


38  History  of 

Carolina,  Virginia  and  Maryland.  As  yet,  cotton-planting  was 
not  engaged  in  extensively,  and  while  there  were  a  few  slaves, 
none  of  the  unpleasing  features  of  slavery  were  in  view.  The 
slave  lived  in  almost  as  good  a  house  as  his  master,  dressed 
in  the  same  homespun  garb,  worked  with  him  in  the  same  field, 
went  with  him  to  the  same  meeting,  sat  with  him  in  the  same 
class,  and  at  communion  knelt  at  the  same  board.  There  were 
a  few  families  who  occupied  high  positions  in  other  States,  who 
had  come  to  Georgia,  not  because  they  were  poor,  but  in  order 
that  their  descendants  might  become  rich.  They  identified  them- 
selves with  Methodism  in  many  instances. 

There  were  as  yet  no  artificial  distinctions  in  society.  The 
aristocrats  of  the  older  States,  Georgia  did  not  have  in  her 
territory.  There  were  no  Patroons,  Baronets,  Caciques,  or  Land- 
graves. Among  such  a  people  there  was  promise  of  a  rich  har- 
vest for  Methodism,  and  it  was  won.  David  Meriwether,  Thom- 
as Grant,  Henry  Pope,  John  Crutchfield,  Samuel  Rembert,  and 
others  who  would  have  blessed  any  church,  were  received  in 
the  societies  in  these  early  days.  The  Richmond  circuit  was 
served  this  year  by  Matthew  Harris,  and  included  Richmond, 
Columbia,  Lincoln  and  Warren,  and  probably  the  country  as 
far  west  as  Hancock.  The  Burke  probably  included  all  Burke, 
Jefferson,  Washington,  Screven  and  Effingham  counties.  This 
was  the  older  section  of  the  State,  and  Moses  Park  and  Bennett 
Maxey  did  grand  work  in  it.  There  was  still  growth,  and  the 
membership  was  largely  increased  during  the  year.  There  was 
reported  at  the  conference  1,629  against  1,100  of  the  year  before. 

The  second  conference  in  Georgia  was  held  in  1789,  at  Grant's 
meeting-house,  in  Wilkes  county.  This  was  the  first  completed 
church  building  among  the  Methodists  in  Georgia.  It  was  lo- 
cated not  far  from  Washington,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Thomas 
Grant.  Bishop  Asbury  left  Charleston  late  in  February,  and 
crossing  the  Savannah  River  at  Beech  Island,  reached  Augusta 
on  the  third  of  March ;  and  riding  directly  through,  he  came 
to  the  home  of  Thomas  Haynes,  on  Uchee  Creek,  in  now  Colum- 
bia county.  Thomas  Haynes  was  a  Virginian,  who  had  been 
much  annoyed  by  these  stirring  evangelists,  who  had  set  Meck- 
lenburg and  Brunswick  counties  in  a  blaze.  That  he  might  get 
rid  of  these  troublesome  fellows  was  one  of  the  inducements 
to  move  to  the  wilds  of  Georgia.  He  settled  on  the  good  lands 
of  Uchee  Creek.  His  cabin  was  soon  built,  and  away  from 
churches  and  religious  influence,  he  became,  he  said,  a  ringleader 
in  wickedness.     One   day,  not  long  after  he   was   comfortably 


Georgia  Methodism.  39 

located,  he  saw  a  man  in  the  unmistakable  uniform  of  a  Metho- 
dist preacher  riding  up  to  his  gate.  His  wife  was  a  Methodist. 
He  called  to  her  and  said:  "Well,  wife,  I  left  Virginny  to  get 
rid  of  these  fellows— your  preachers,  but  my  cabin  is  scarcely 
built  before  here  is  one  of  them  again."  His  old  Virginia  hos- 
pitality and  fraternal  feeling  for  one  of  the  same  heath  was  too 
much  for  his  prejudice,  and  so  Thomas  Humphries  found  a 
welcome,  and  Thomas  Haynes  was  soon  converted.  He  was 
born  for  a  leader,  and  he  became  the  ruling  spirit  in  his  neigh- 
borhood. Here  at  his  house  Asbury  made  an  annual  halt  on 
his  rapid  journeys.  Coke,  Lorenzo  Dow,  McKendree,  made 
their  homes  with  him.  He  had  a  church  near  by,  and  he  was 
a  true  overseer  of  the  flock.  His  word  was  generally  law.  His 
peculiarities  were  striking.  Blunt,  positive,  determined,  men 
knew  what  to  do  when  he  spoke  out.  There  was  a  good  local 
preacher  near  by  who  preached  an  insufferable  time.  He  could 
not  stop.  One  day  the  circuit  preacher  was  expected,  and  for 
some  reason  did  not  come.  The  preaching  hour  was  twelve, 
and  as  it  was  long  after  time,  the  people  made  ready  to  go  home. 
Brother  A.  suggested  that  they  should  have  a  sermon — he  would 
preach ;  the  people  demurred.  It  was  too  late ;  he  would  preach 
too  long.  Brother  A.  said  no,  he  would  only  preach  half  an  hour. 
Uncle  Tommy,  or  the  Squire,  as  men  called  him,  said  they  must 
stay  and  hear  him  the  half-hour.  They  consented,  but,  alas! 
when  Brother  A.  reached  his  limit  of  time,  he  had  just  begun 
to  reach  the  first  of  his  sermon. 

"Time's  out,  brother,"  said  the  old  squire,  and  taking  up  his 
hat  he  left  the  house,  and  the  congregation  followed  him.* 

He  raised  a  large  family,  and  few  families  have  been  more  dis- 
tinguished for  intelligence  and  piety.  One  of  his  sons  was  a 
member  of  Congress  and  preserved  his  Christian  character  in 
politics;  another  was  a  distinguished  physician,  and  his  grand- 
children are  now  among  the  most  respectable  people  in  Georgia 
and  Alabama. 

At  his  house  Mr.  Asbury  stopped  for  the  first  time  this  March 
day,  in  1789,  and  rode  thence  to  Thomas  Grant's.  Here  the 
second  conference  in  Georgia  held  its  session.  Among  other 
things  before  the  conference,  the  question  of  establishing  a 
school  was  the  leading  one.  It  was  decided  to  buy  five  hundred 
acres  of  land,  which  could  be  bought  at  that  time  for  one  pound 
Continental  money  per  acre,  and  a  subscription  was  to  be  raised 
for  the  buildings,  to  be  paid  in  cattle,  rice,  indigo  or  tobacco. 

*MSS. — From  Miss  Kate  Thwent,  his  granddaughter. 


40  History  of 

We  can  see  in  this  movement  the  far-seeing  wisdom  of  the 
young  Marylander,  who  had  just  entered  fully  into  the  Georgia 
work.  The  Bishop  remained  in  Georgia  only  a  week,  and  re- 
turned to  Charleston.  It  was  on  his  return  from  this  weary 
journey  that  he  received  the  famous  letter  from  Mr.  Wesley,  so 
carefully  preserved  and  so  frequently  published  by  our  Episcopal 
friends,  in  which  the  mistaken  old  man  complains  of  his  dear 
Franky  for  allowing  himself  to  be  called  a  Bishop,  and  for  found- 
ing a  college  and  not  a  school,  in  Maryland,  and  allowing  it  to 
be  named  for  himself  and  Dr.  Coke.  Poor  Asbury!— an  exile 
from  England,  riding,  sick  and  weary  as  he  was,  five  thousand 
miles  a  year,  poorly  clad,  worse  paid,  with  a  single  eye  for  the 
glory  of  God,  to  be  charged  by  his  dearest  friend  with  worldli- 
ness!  It  was  too  painful,  and  he  received  it,  as  well  he  might, 
as  a  bitter  pill.  "No  man,"  said  Mr.  Wesley,  "should  call  him 
Bishop;"  but  he  had  called  himself  a  genuine  Episcopos,  and 
had  acted  in  character.  It  was  indeed  a  cruel  misjudgment  of 
Asbury,  and  a  harsh  and  uncalled  for  rebuke. 

Richard  Ivy  was  again  on  the  district,  and  as  Beverly  Allen 
had  returned  to  Georgia,  he  was  associated  with  him  as  an  assist- 
ant elder,  a  kind  of  roving  evangelist. 

James  Connor,  who  had  been  on  the  Washington  circuit,  was 
sent  to  Augusta  to  organize  a  church  there.  If  he  went,  he  did 
not  stay  long,  and  six  months  after  he  was  dead.  He  was  from 
Virginia,  had  entered  the  conference  in  1788,  and  had  traveled 
only  two  years.  He  was  a  man  of  solid  understanding,  was  in- 
dustrious and  improving.  He  promised  great  usefulness  to  the 
church,  but  in  the  midst  of  his  usefulness  he  died.  He  was  bless- 
ed, say  the  minutes,  with  confidence  in  his  last  hour. 

Moses  Park  was  on  the  Washington  Circuit  with  Wyatt  An- 
drews. Andrews  traveled  one  year  in  Georgia,  and  went  thence 
to  South  Carolina — and  to  Heaven,  for  he  died  the  next  year, 
full  of  faith  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  praising  God  to  the  last.  Hull 
went  this  year  to  the  Burke  Circuit.  There  was  a  great  revival 
in  it,  and  it  more  than  trebled  its  membership.  Hull  writes  to 
John  Andrew  in  November  of  this  year:  "Oh,  the  sweet  views 
I  have  had  lately !  Come  on,  my  partners  in  distress !  Glory  to 
God  !  Amen  !  Let  it  go  round,  our  Jesus  is  crowned  !  All  hail ! 
Glory!  Amen!  All's  well,  my  soul  is  happy!  If  I  had  some 
happy  Christians,  I  could  shout  a  mile  high." 

The  conference  of  1790  convened  at  Grant's  again,  but  the 
Bishop  made  a  more  extensive  journey  through  the  State.  He 
crossed  *he  Savannah  at  Augusta,  and   rode  to  S.   C.   Church,. 


Georgia  Methodism.  41 

in  Richmond  county.  This,  then,  was  the  first  Church  in  Rich- 
mond— but  where  was  it?  From  here  he  went  to  Briar  Creek. 
On  a  beautiful  bluff,  near  the  great  Briar  Creek  Swamp,  stood 
for  many  years  a  church.  The  lands  around  it  were  rich,  and 
the  population  considerable;  but  with  the  growth  of  the  planta- 
tions and  the  exodus  of  the  white  people,  it  gradually  declined 
in  importance,  and  was  finally  given  up  to  the  negroes.  This 
was  probably  the  first  Methodist  church  in  Burke  county.  The 
first  church  in  the  county  was  the  old  St.  George  Episcopal 
church,  which,  with  its  glebe  of  forty  acres,  was  located  six 
miles  south  of  Waynesboro.  After  the  Revolution  it  was  aban- 
doned by  the  Episcopalians,  and,  reverting  to  the  Government, 
it  became,  finally,  the  property  of  the  Methodists.  These  were, 
as  far  as  we  can  discover,  the  only  church  buildings  in  Burke. 
The  population  of  the  county  was  considerable,  since  we  find, 
in  an  old  document  protesting  against  the  rebellion  of  the  colony, 
the  names  of  over  one  hundred  families  from  Burke  alone. 

In  company  with  Hull,  he  went  across  the  county  to  Jefferson 
county,  where  George  Galphin,  the  great  Indian  trader,  had  a 
trading-place.  This  was  near  Louisville.  He  passed  up  the 
Ogeechee  River,  and  preached  near  Fenn's  Bridge,  and  still  up 
the  Ogeechee  to  its  fork ;  here  he  examined  some  land  for  the 
school.  He  was  at  H's;  where  was  this?  It  is  evidently  in  War- 
ren county,  and  not  many  miles  from  the  home  of  Bishop  Pierce, 
in  Hancock.    The  purchase  does  not  seem  to  have  been  made. 

Asbury  says  there  was  an  abundance  of  provisions,  both  for 
man  and  beast,  but  the  houses  were  generally  pole  cabins,  and 
the  rides  were  long  and  wearisome. 

The  conference  met  at  Grant's  again,  and  if  all  its  members 
were  present,  there  were  ten  in  all.  Among  them  was  Bennett 
Maxey,  a  Virginian,  who,  after  several  years  of  hard  service  in 
Georgia,  returned  to  Virginia,  where  he  extended,  says  Bennett, 
his  labors  far  into  the  present  century.  He  was  placed  in  charge  of 
the  Richmond  Circuit.  John  Andrew,  another  present,  was  the 
father  of  James  O.  Andrew.  He  was  originally  from  Liberty 
county,  and  lived  in  the  famous  Medway  settlement.  He  received 
much  kindness  from  Mr.  Osgood,  the  good  pastor  of  the  church 
there,  and  after  the  birth  of  his  son,  he  named  him  James  Os- 
good, in  his  honor.  He  entered  the  conference  in  1790,  and  was 
the  first  native  Georgian  ever  admitted  into  the  traveling  con- 
nection. He  was  a  man  of  more  than  usual  education  for  those 
times.  After  his  marriage,  which  was  to  Mary  Cosby,  of  one 
nf  the  best  families  in  Wilkes,  he  located  and  engaged  in  mer- 


42  History  of 

cantile  business.  He  was  unfortunate  in  trade,  and  became  in- 
volved. Church  discipline  was  stern,  and  often  pitiless  in  those 
days,  and  the  high-spirited  old  pioneer  was  wounded  in  the 
house  of  his  friends,  and  withdrew  from  the  church,  only  to 
return  to  it  after  his  son's  elevation  to  the  highest  office  in  its 
gift.  His  life  was  a  pure  one,  and  his  death  one  of  triumph.  He 
died  in  Clarke  county  nearly  forty  years  after  this  time. 

The  harvest  truly  was  great,  and  the  laborers  were  few.  Of 
all  who  traveled  in  Georgia,  Hope  Hull  was  the  only  elder.  The 
strong  men  are  nearly  all  gone.  Major  was  dead.  Humphries 
had  removed  finally  to  South  Carolina.  Beverly  Allen  had  left 
the  State  to  return  to  it  a  disgraced  and  ruined  man. 

The  only  workers  were  young  men,  inexperienced  and  unculti- 
vated. The  results  of  this  sad  condition  of  things  will  be  seen 
in  the  future. 

This  conference  was  held  at  Grant's.  This  was  in  Wilkes 
county.  Daniel  Grant,  here  spoken  of,  was  the  father  of  Thomas 
Grant,  who  was  for  so  long  a  time  a  prominent  layman  in  Geor- 
gia. 

In  Hanover  county,  Virgina,  in  the  middle  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, there  was  a  sad  state  of  religion.  The  only  pastors  were 
a  set  of  parish  priests,  whose  profligate  lives  even  went  beyond 
that  of  the  English  clergy  at  that  time.  Among  the  leading  citi- 
zens of  that  county  was  an  Episcopalian  named  Morris.  He  be- 
came interested  about  his  soul,  and  was  converted  through  the 
reading  of  an  old  copy  of  Luther's  sermons.  He  invited  his 
neighbors  to  come  and  hear  the  sermons.  They  came  in  such 
numbers  that  a  house  for  their  accommodation  was  needful,  and 
he  built  one.  In  other  parts  of  the  country  there  came  requests 
for  him  to  come  and  read  sermons.  The  same  result  followed, 
and  Morris's  reading-houses  were  in  several  parts  of  Hanover. 
They  met  on  Sunday,  and,  without  singing  or  prayer,  a  sermon 
was  read.  A  Mr.  Robinson,  of  New  Jersey,  a  Presbyterian,  pass- 
ing through  Hanover,  remained  one  Sunday  at  Morris's  and  ob- 
served the  strange  worship.  He  preached  to  the  people.  They 
insisted  he  should  stay  longer  as  he  returned  from  Charleston. 
He  did  so;  there  was  a  revival,  and  he  organized  a  Presbyterian 
church.  When  he  prepared  for  his  departure  they  insisted  on 
giving  him  some  money;  he  refused  to  take  it.  They  put  the 
money  in  his  saddle  bags.  He  consented  to  take  it  for  the  use 
of  a  young  man  then  at  the  Log  College  in  New  Jersey,  and 
promised  to  send  him,  as  soon  as  he  was  through  college,  to 
Virginia.     This  man  was  Samuel  Davies,  one  of  the  most  elo- 


Georgia  Methodism.  43 

quent  preachers  America  has  ever  produced.    Grant  was  a  mem- 
ber of  his  church,  and  Thomas  Grant  was  baptized  by  him.     lhe 
Grants  removed  to  North  Carolina,  and  the  elder  Grant  was  an 
elder  in  the  Presbyterian  church  there.     In  1784,  they  removed 
to  Wilkes  county.    In  the  county  there  was  no  preaching  save  an 
occasional  sermon  from  Silas  Mercer,  at  a  private  house      At 
last   John  Major  and  Thomas   Humphries  came.     Grant  heard 
them  and  invited  them  to  take  his  house  into  the  circuit.     I  hey 
did  so,  and  he  and  his  wife  soon,  as  the  phrase  was,  joined  in 
society.     Thomas  was   then   a  married  man.     He  had  been   a 
Revolutionary   soldier  and   a  surveyor   of   western  lands.      His 
father's  teachings  had  not  been  lost,  and  he  had  preserved  a  pure 
life      He  was  an  earnest  seeker  but  was  not  converted  for  some 
time      After  he  heard  the  Methodists,  many  of  the  difficulties 
which  had  been  in  the  way  of  his  happy  conversion  were  removed. 
He  ^ave  up  his  Calvanism  and  soon  after  joined  in  society  with 
his  wife      He  was  then  living  with  his  father,  and  was  a  well- 
to-do  farmer     The  Grants  soon  built  a  church,  the  first  in  Geor- 
gia •  but  before  the  church  was  built  the  conference  met  at  their 
house      The   second  in   Georgia  was  held  there.      In    1791,  he 
entered  into  mercantile  business.     He  shipped  tobacco  and  other 
farm  products  to  Savannah  and  exchanged  them  for  West  India 
produce.     His  business  prospered  and  he  began  to  enlarge  it. 
He  shipped  his  produce  direct  from  Savannah  to  Liverpool.     In 
1801  he  went  to  New  York.     The  journey  was  three  months 
and  three  days  long.     When  he  was  in  New  York  he  found  a 
pious  Ouaker  who  kept  a  boarding-house,  and  made  his  home 
with  him.     He  sought  out  the  only  society  of  Methodists  111 
New  York,  then  meeting  in  John  Street,  and  had  sweet  Christian 
intercourse  with  them.     In  one  of  his  visits  he  found  that  they 
were  just  completing  a  meeting-house  which  cost  the  immense 
sum  of  eleven  thousand  dollars.     God  greatly  prospered  him  in 
his  business,  but  he  was  not  injured  by  it. 

He  was  a  true  friend  to  the  itinerant  preacher,  and  kept  a  room 
in  his  house  known  as  the  Prophet's  chamber ;  in  a  bureau  drawer 
he  kept  clothing  already  made,  fitted  for  short  men,  long  men, 
fat  men  and  lean  men,  so  that  any  preacher  who  reached  his 
house  cold  and  wet  could  change  his  apparel.  After  the  opening 
of  the  new  country  east  of  the  Ocmulgee,  he  established  a  store 
in  Randolph,  now  Jasper  county,  and  after  his  first  wife's  death 
and  his  second  marriage,  he  removed  to  Monticello.  Here  he 
was  very  active  in  church  work,  and  bemoaned  the  sadly  dead 
state  of  the  church.     In  1827  the  revival  fire  which  burned  all 


44  History  of 

over  the  State  reached  Monticello  and  the  community  was  greatly 
blessed.  He  had  now  almost  retired  from  the  world  and  was 
waiting  for  his  change.  He  made  his  will,  and  left  a  handsome 
legacy  to  the  church.  This  bequest  was  divided  between  the 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia  conferences  after  his  death.  The 
share  of  the  Georgia  conference  was  fifteen  hundred  dollars 
and  sundry  lots  of  land. 

Few  laymen  in  Georgia  were  more  cultivated,  liberal  and 
pious  than  Thomas  Grant.  He  was  of  that  small  group  in  Wilkes 
who  gave  all  their  influence  and  much  of  their  wealth  to  assist 
a  struggling  church.  He  died  in  great  peace  in  1828,  and  Dr. 
Lovick  Pierce  preached  his  funeral  discourse. 

David  Meriwether*  was  an  Englishman  in  his  ancestry.  His 
family  had  been  a  leading  and  wealthy  one  in  Virginia,  and  when 
George  Mathews,  afterwards  Governor,  purchased  largely  of 
Georgia  lands  and  removed  to  Georgia,  David  Merwether  came 
with  him.  He  became  a  Methodist  in  1787,  and  continued  one 
till  his  death.  He  had  been  a  leading  man  in  the  State,  and  he 
became  one  in  the  church.  He  was  connected  by  marriage  with 
Hope  Hull  and  John  Andrew,  and  although  he  was  in  public 
life,  President  of  the  Senate,  and  United  States  Commissioner, 
when  the  Methodists  were  very  humble,  and  although  he  had 
large  wealth  when  the  Methodists  were  very  poor,  he  was  always 
a  bold,  simple-hearted  member  of  the  Church.  He  removed  to 
Athens,  and  was  one  of  the  first  members  of  the  Society  there, 
and  died  peacefully  after  reaching  a  good  old  age.  He  left  a 
family,  who  have  preserved  and  transmitted  his  virtues  and  his 
Methodism. 

Philip  Mathews  had  already  traveled  one  year,  and  was  now 
with  John  Crawford  on  the  Savannah  Circuit.  He  traveled  but 
a  few  years  longer.  After  having  been  stationed  in  Georgetown, 
South  Carolina,  he  withdrew  from  the  Methodist  Episcopal,  and 
joined  the  more  recently  organized  Protestant  Episcopal  church. 
Mr.  Asbury  mentions  in  his  journal  that  a  friend  in  Screven 
county  showed  him  a  letter  from  Mr.  Mathews — evidently  Philip 
Mathews — in  which  he  said  Mr.  Wesley  was  convinced  of  As- 
bury's  iniquity.  This  iniquity  was  probably  a  failure  to  recog- 
nize the  merits  of  Hammett  and  Mathews.  Mathews  settled  in 
Georgetown,  S.  C,  and  Travis  makes  this  mention  of  him:  "An 
Episcopal  clergyman,  Philip  Mathews,  once  a  Methodist  preacher, 
attended  one  of  my  prayer-meetings.  We  had  a  gracious  time. 
Several  lay  prostrate  on  the  floor,  speechless  and  apparently  life- 

*Gilmer's  Georgians. 


Georgia  Methodism.  45 

less.  The  parson  went  about  feeling  first  the  pulse  of  one  and 
then  of  another ;  finally  he  came  to  me  and  said :  'Mr.  Travis, 
I  want  you  to  pray  for  me.'  'Well,'  I  said,  'kneel  down  here, 
and  I  will  pray  for  you.'  'Oh,'  said  he,  T  want  you  to  do  it 
privately.'  "  We  know  nothing  more  of  his  history.  The  Savan- 
nah Circuit  probably  included  the  counties  of  Screven,  Effingham, 
Chatham,  Bryan,  Bulloch  and  Liberty. 

Hope  Hull  was  appointed  to  Savannah  Town.  Of  his  stay 
there  we  have  given  a  full  account  in  our  chapter  on  Methodism 
in  the  cities.  This  was  a  sad  year  and  the  beginning  of  sadder 
ones.  There  was  decline  everywhere.  The  zealous  young  preach- 
ers were  neither  old  enough,  nor  strong  enough,  for  the  burden. 
The  religious  reaction  had  begun,  and  it  continued  for  nearly  ten 
years.  Hull  had  been  unwisely  taken  from  the  field  in  which 
he  was  reaping  so  grand  a  harvest,  and  sent  where  there  was  no 
hope  of  accomplishing  anything.  No  wonder  he  writes  to  John 
Andrews :  "My  soul  has  been  among  lions."  Then,  too,  the 
storm  of  controversy  was  raging.  The  Baptists  and  the  Presby- 
terians were  Calvanists,  and  they  had  strong  men  to  defend  their 
views.  The  Methodists  were  Arminians ;  and  Pelagian  and  Uni- 
tarian are  not  now  names  more  odious  to  Evangelical  Christians, 
than  Arminian  was  in  the  last  century.  There  was,  on  the  side 
of  the  Calvinists,  Marshall,  Bottsford,  Mercer,  Father  Cum- 
mings,  and  others  who  were  strong  men,  and  the  Methodist 
preachers  were  young  and  perhaps  not  fully  equipped  for  the 
battle.  Asbury  found  the  controversy  raging  and  deprecated 
it.  He  thought  we  had  better  work  to  do.  He  came  on  his 
annual  visit  in  the  spring  of  this  year.  He  rode  through  the  Sa- 
vannah Swamp  to  a  Brother  H's,  probably  in  Screven  county, 
and  after  preaching  to  a  congregation  of  four  hundred,  went 
thence  to  Old  Church,  and  thence  to  Waynesboro.  He  met  here 
an  intelligent  and  hospitable  Jew,  named  Henry,  who  took  him 
home  with  him,  and  with  whom  he  read  Hebrew  till  a  late  hour. 
While  here  he  heard  heavy  tidings,  probably  of  Beverly  Allen's 
fall  in  South  Carolina,  which  depressed  him  much  ;  but  he  left 
all  with  the  Lord,  and  joining  Bishop  Coke,  they  went  together 
to  the  seat  of  the  conference.  It  was  at  Scott's.  Scott's  was 
a  new  meeting-house  in  Wilkes  county,  not  very  far  from  Meri- 
wether's and  Grant's,  in  the  same  section. 

This  was  the  first  visit  of  Bishop  Coke  to  Georgia.  He  was 
a  Welshman  by  birth,  well-born,  well-bred,  and  well-educated ; 
for  a  while  he  was  a  skeptic,  then  he  was  an  unconverted  curate 
convinced  of  the  truth  of  Christianity,  but  by  no  means  a  Chris- 


46  History  of 

tian ;  then  he  was  a  warm-hearted  Gospel  preacher,  and  because 
he  was  so,  he  lost  his  curacy.  He  attached  himself  to  Mr.  Wes- 
ley, who  valued  him  highly,  and  as  we  have  seen,  Mr.  Wesley 
sent  him  to  America.  He  was  very  decided,  and  almost  rash  in 
his  temper — one  who  did  not  understand  America  or  the  Ameri- 
cans— one  whose  restless  spirit  forbade  his  being  confined  in  any 
single  field.  He  loved  America,  but  he  did  not  suit  it,  and  the 
American  preachers  soon  found  that  his  absence  from  America 
was  a  greater  blessing  than  his  presence,  and  he  spent  his  last 
active  year  in  a  work  which  he  did  suit,  the  great  mission  work 
of  the  Wesleyan  church.  Few  men  have  spared  themselves  less, 
and  few  men  have  ever  lived  whose  souls  were  nobler  than  that 
of  Thomas  Coke. 

We  found,  says  Asbury  at  conference,  that  the  peace  with  the 
Indians,  and  the  prosperous  trade  with  them  which  followed  the 
new  settlements  in  Greene,  and  Hancock  and  Clarke,  the  buying 
of  slaves,  had  so  engrossed  the  minds  of  the  people  that  the 
preachers  had  not  had  the  success  they  hoped  for.  Despite  an 
increase  of  the  Savannah  River  Circuit,  there  was  a  decrease 
of  near  two  hundred  members  in  the  State.  Richard  Ivy  took 
the  district  again,  and  John  Andrew  and  Hardy  Herbert  the 
Washington  Circuit.  Hope  Hull  had  Burke  once  more.  Among 
the  new  laborers  introduced  into  the  field  was  Hardy  Herbert. 
He  was  quite  a  young  man  from  North  Carolina,  one  who  had 
been  pious  from  his  childhood.  He  traveled  one  year  with  the 
saintly  Isaac  Smith,  and  another  with  Thomas  Humphries,  and 
now  Bishop  Asbury  brought  him  to  Georgia  and  placed  him  with 
Adrew  on  the  Washington  Circuit.  Hull  writes  to  Andrew : 
"Take  care  of  dear  Brother  Herbert,  for  my  sake,  for  Christ's 
sake,  and  for  his  own  sake."  He  seems  to  have  been  exceedingly 
lovable  and  highly  gifted.  The  next  year  Bishop  Asbury  took 
him  with  him  to  Virginia,  and  stationed  him  in  Winchester.  His 
strength  gave  way,  and  he  located,  married,  and  died  in  Norfolk, 
Virgina.  when  he  was  but  twenty-five  years  old. 

In  the  spring  of  1792,  Asbury  came  once  more,  entering  Geor- 
gia from  Barnwell  district  into  Screven  county,  and  thence 
through  Burke  county  northward.  He  passed  through  Waynes- 
boro, and  attempted  to  preach.  He  left  the  village  in  no  good 
humor  with  it,  saying:  "Let  preachers  or  people  catch  me  here 
till  things  are  mended  and  bettered."  The  next  day,  Sunday,  he 
spent  in  prayer,  burdened  with  the  weight  of  the  church.  The 
preachers  were  leaving  the  field.  He  rode  on  up  the  country  to 
White  Oak,  in  Columbia  county.     The  weather  was   cold,  the 


Georgia  Methodism.  47 

houses  were  open,  and  from  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning  until 
seven  o'clock  in  the  evening  he  was  forced  to  ride  before  he 
could  break  his  fast.  The  home  in  which  he  was  housed  was 
not  comfortable,  nor  were  the  people  religious.  He  simply  says: 
"I  have  had  my  trials  this  evening."  The  snow  fell  the  next 
day,  but  he  rode  on  to  Washington,  where  conference  met. 
Bishop  Asbury,  in  his  journal,  states  that  the  conference  met 
in  Washington.  There  was  no  church  in  Washington  for  nearly 
forty  years  after  this,  of  which  we  can  find  any  mention,  and 
the  conference  must  have  been  held  in  the  neighborhood,  at 
Coke's  Chapel,  as  the  next  year  the  Bishop  preached  for  the 
first  time  in  Washington.  There  was,  he  says,  great  sifting,  and 
one  member  of  the  body  was  suspended.*  The  already  depleted 
ranks  lost  two  of  its  best  laborers,  for  Hope  Hull  went  with  the 
Bishop  as  his  traveling  companion,  and  Hardy  Herbert  went  to 
take  an  appointment  in  Virginia.  Ivy  was  for  the  fourth  and 
last  year  on  the  district.  Jonathan  Jackson  came  to  Georgia 
and  took  the  place  of  John  Andrew,  while  Andrew  located,  to 
return  to  the  work  no  more.  Jackson  was  from  North  Carolina. 
He  was,  says  Mood,  a  very  son  of  thunder,  dealing  out  the 
terrors  of  the  Law  until  the  wicked  would  almost  flee  from  the 
house.  He  remained  in  Georgia  only  one  year,  then  returned 
to  South  Carolina,  and  thence  to  Virginia,  where  he  traveled  a 
district  reaching  far  beyond  the  Alleghanies.  He  came  again  to 
South  Carolina,  where  he  was  honorably  located.  Travis,  who 
knew  him  well,  says  that  while  his  preaching  talents  were  not 
brilliant,  his  sermons  were  always  calculated  to  do  good.  He 
was  a  man  of  great  holiness,  and  when  the  Lord  came  he  found 
his  lamp  trimmed  and  burning.** 

George  Clark  took  his  first  appointment  this  year.  He  trav- 
eled three  circuits  in  Georgia  and  then  located.  He  was  the  first 
preacher  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Mary's.  After  his  location  he 
lived  in  Union  district,  South  Carolina.  He  was  a  man  of  con- 
siderable wealth,  but  one  of  great  plainness  of  dress  and  manner. 
His  goodness  was  unquestioned,  and  he  did  much  for  the  church. 
He  lived  to  an  advanced  age.  Two  new  circuits  were  formed, 
the  Elbert  and  the  Oconee.  The  Oconee  was  served  by  John 
Clark :  "This,"  says  James  Jenkins,  who  traveled  it  the  next 
year,  "was  a  two-weeks'  circuit,  extending  from  the  Sweet-water 
Iron  Works  in  Warren  county,  to  the  banks  of  the  Oconee,  then 
the  frontier."  The  lower  part  of  Greene,  all  of  Hancock,  and 
a  part  of  Washington  and  Warren  must  have  been  included  in 

*See  Journal.     **Methodism  in  Charleston. 


48  History  of 

it.  The  next  year  there  was  one  meeting-house,  mentioned  by 
Jenkins,  Jackson's  Meeting-house,  but  this  year  the  work  was 
just  laid  out.  Hancock  county  had  not,  as  yet,  been  separated 
from  Greene  and  Washington,  and  Clark's  work  was  in  these 
counties.  The  country  was  a  fertile  one,  but  the  fact  that  the 
Indians  were  just  across  the  river  made  it  a  perilous  one  to 
travel  in.  There  was  peace  then,  but  no  man  knew  how  long 
it  would  continue.  The  Elbert  Circuit  was  separated  from  that 
of  Wilkes,  and  contained  186  members.  This  county  had  been 
laid  out  from  Wilkes  two  years  before,  and  it  was  one  of  the 
most  thickly  populated  in  the  State.  This  then  was  the  state  of 
the  work  up  to  the  conference  of  1793,  when  Georgia  was  con- 
nected with  South  Carolina  in  one  conference.  The  conference 
met  in  Washington  again,  Bishop  Asbury  having  crossed  the 
river  at  Augusta,  and  riding  directly  to  Haynes,  and  thence  to 
Washington.  The  brethren  decided  to  unite  the  two  conferences, 
and  after  a  session  of  great  love,  they  ended  the  sitting.  He 
returned  to  South  Carolina,  by  turning  his  course  from  Haynes, 
by  Buckhead  in  Burke,  on  to  Savannah.  He  visited  Ebenezer 
and  the  Orphan  House  of  Whitefield,  and  preached  in  Savan- 
nah. This  city  then  had  about  five  hundred  houses  of  all  sorts, 
and  he  supposed  about  two  thousand  inhabitants.  There  was 
a  Lutheran  church  in  it  and  a  Presbyterian.  The  Goshen  church, 
in  Effingham,  was  offered  to  Mr.  Asbury  by  Mr.  Bergman,  the 
pastor  at  Ebenezer,  on  condition  that  he  would  have  the  pulpit 
supplied  once  in  two  or  three  weeks  on  Sunday.  This  session 
of  the  Georgia  conference  was  the  last  held  for  nearly  forty 
years. 

James  Jenkins  came  this  year  to  the  Oconee  Circuit.  He  was 
in  the  second  year  of  his  ministry  and  was  now  twenty-eight 
years  old.  He  lived  for  many  years  after  this,  and  continued  in 
the  local  and  traveling  ministry  all  the  days  of  his  life.  He  was 
a  stern  man,  who  believed  the  world  needed  more  rebuke  than 
comfort ;  one  who  was  possessed  of  great  fearlessness  and  a  most 
unbending  will,  and  who  allowed  nothing  to  cause  him  to  swerve 
from  what  he  believed  was  the  true  path,  and  who  demanded 
the  same  steadiness  of  others.  Subject  to  great  depression,  as- 
sailed by  fierce  temptation,  neither  his  words  nor  his  manner  in- 
dicated that  he  basked  in  sunlight.  He  was  the  bold  denouncer 
of  sin,  and  most  earnestly  proclaimed  what  he  believed  to  be  the 
penalties  of  a  life  of  sin.  His  history  properly  belongs  to  South 
Carolina,  and  a  full  sketch  of  him  will  be  a  graphic  chapter  in 
that  history.     We  can,  however,  take  the  liberty  to  tell  again 


Georgia  Methodism.  49 

the  story  so  touchingly  told  by  Bishop  Capers,  in  his  autobiogra- 
phy, of  his  first  encounter  with  him.  He  was  at  Jenkin's  house 
his  first  year,  in  1809. 

"Well,  have  they  sent  you  to  us  for  our  preacher?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"What,  you!  and  the  egg-shell  not  dropped  off  of  you  yet? 
Lord  have  mercy  upon  us!  and  who  have  they  sent  in  charge?" 

"No  one  but  myself,  sir." 

"What,  you!  by  yourself  ?  You  in  charge  of  the  circuit ?  Why, 
what  is  to  become  of  the  circuit? — the  Bishop  had  just  as  well 
sent  nobody.     What  can  you  do  in  charge  of  the  circuit?" 

"Very  poorly  I  fear,  sir;  but  the  Bishop  thought  you  would 
advise  me." 

"So,  so.  I  suppose  I  am  to  take  charge  of  the  circuit  for  you, 
and  you  are  to  be  what  I  tell  you." 

"I  would  be  very  glad,  sir,  if  you  would." 

"Did  ever !  What !  I,  a  local  preacher,  take  charge  of  the 
circuit?  And  is  it  that  you  have  come  here  for?  How  can  I 
take  charge  of  it?  no!  no!  But  I  can  see  that  you  do  it;  such 
a  charge  as  it  will  be  for  these  days — the  discipline  goes  for 
nothing." 

Of  course  the  young  timid  preacher  cowered  under  these  merci- 
less blows  of  the  well-meaning  but  erring  old  man.  The  next 
time  he  came  he  received  another  flagellation ;  but  that  night  he 
heard  the  dear  old  wife  remonstrating  with  her  husband  for 
his  severity.  "Why,  Betsy,  child,"  he  said,  "don't  you  know 
I  love  Billy  as  well  as  you  do,  and  I  talk  to  him  so  because  I 
love  him?"  Billy,  as  he  called  him,  was  no  longer  afraid,  and 
the  next  morning  disarmed  the  old  preacher  by  telling  him  what 
he  had  heard  the  night  before,  and  changed  the  frown  into  a 
laugh.  But  this  was  years  after ;  he  was  now  a  young  man  and 
was  now  alone  on  the  Oconee  circuit ;  it  probably  included  Han- 
cock, a  part  of  Greene  and  Washington,  and  was  traveled  in 
two  weeks. 

With  this  year's  work  well  done,  Richard  Ivy  left  Georgia 
never  more  to  return  to  it.  In  two  years  he  is  in  his  grave.  He 
did  noble  work  for  the  young  State.  He  was  the  Great  Heart 
of  his  day,  and  he  braved  all  the  perils  of  this  frontier,  and  bore 
all  the  privations  his  office  called  for.  His  district  extended  from 
the  Savannah  to  the  Oconee,  from  the  St.  Mary's  to  the  moun- 
tains. When  he  began  his  work  there  was  not  a  single  church 
building  in  his  district.  He  had  seen  the  membership  of  the  so- 
cieties quintupled.    He  had  extended  his  line — a  skirmish  line,  it 


50  History  of 

is  true — from  below  Savannah  to  the  borders  of  the  Indian  na- 
tion. He  had  only  young  men,  almost  without  education,  to 
rely  upon  to  aid  him.  He  had  no  mission  funds,  no  reserve  of 
ministerial  force  to  bring  up;  never  had  man  a  more  difficult 
task,  not  often  has  man  done  the  work  better. 

Reuben  Ellis  was  his  successor  on  the  district.  He  had,  be- 
sides, five  appointments  in  South  Carolina.  His  district  extended 
from  Charleston,  in  South  Carolina,  to  Greene  county,  in  Geor- 
gia— from  the  Saluda  to  the  Altamaha.  Reuben  Ellis  was  one 
of  the  first  and  one  of  the  most  faithful  of  the  early  preachers. 
Save  the  record  that  the  minutes  present  of  his  fields  of  labor, 
and  the  short  memoir  they  gave  of  him,  we  know  very  little 
of  one  whose  life  must  have  been  full  of  stirring  incidents.  He 
was  born  in  North  Carolina,  and  began  to  travel  during  the  Revo- 
lution in  1779.  He  preached  in  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia 
and  North  Carolina.  When  presiding  elders  were  first  appointed, 
in  1785,  he  was  one — first  in  North  Carolina,  in  the  east  and  west 
of  this  State,  among  pine  forests,  swamps  and  mountains;  then 
on  a  district  extending  from  Salisbury  to  Columbia,  S.  C,  with 
only  four  circuits  in  it.  He  mapped  out  the  work  in  the  frontier 
country  of  upper  South  Carolina,  and  after  four  years  of  hard 
work  there  he  was  sent  to  Georgia.  He  traveled  this  laborious 
district,  including  nearly  all  of  two  States,  but  one  year,  and 
then  returned  to  the  scene  of  his  early  labors  in  Virginia  and 
Maryland.  In  Baltimore,  in  1796,  he  died.  His  old  comrade 
in  arms,  his  brother  beloved,  Richard  Ivy,  went  home  a  few 
months  before  him.  They  joined  the  conference  together,  trav- 
eled the  same  circuits  and  the  same  districts,  were  alike  holy 
and  laborious,  and  entered  into  their  reward  near  the  same  time. 
In  personal  appearance  they  were  unlike.  Ellis  was  very  large 
in  body,  but  feeble  in  constitution.  The  Bishop,  who  had  been 
his  bosom  friend  for  twenty  years,  said  of  him :  "It  is  a  doubt 
whether  there  be  one  left  in  the  connection  higher,  if  equal  to 
him  in  standing,  piety  and  usefulness."  He  began  his  work 
in  Georgia  under  many  difficulties.  The  Bishop  was  unable  to 
supply  the  field  with  laborers  as  it  should  have  been  supplied. 
He  could  only  send  such  men  as  he  had — James  Tolleson  was 
one  of  the  best  of  them.  He  came  from  South  Carolina  to  the 
Washington  Circuit.  He  remained  in  Georgia  for  but  one  year. 
He  was  a  man  of  fine  promise,  who  filled  several  of  the  most 
important  stations  with  "dignity  and  diligence."  He  died  in  great 
peace  in  Portsmouth,  Virginia. 

From  this  time,  for  nearly  forty  years,  there  is  no  separate 


Ciias.  Wesley. 


*'     ■!f??ttS*-: 


Dr.  Alexander  Means. 
President  Emory  College. 


Georgia  Methodism.  51 

meeting  of  the  Georgia  Conference,  and  this  affords  a  proper 
point  from  which  to  survey  the  first  years  of  the  church  in  Geor- 
gia. 

The  Methodist  preachers  have  now*  occupied  this  territory  for 
nine  years.  They  have  met  everywhere  obstacles  of  serious  kind, 
but  they  have  had  a  wonderful  success.  We  have  alluded  to  the 
odium  attached  to  them  for  being  Arminians,  and  the  distrust 
of  their  patriotism,  and  the  needless  difficulties  Dr.  Coke's  great 
imprudence  in  denouncing  slavery,  before  he  had  been  three 
months  in  America,  had  caused.  Then  there  was  their  mode  of 
doing  things — their  revival  services,  their  class  meetings,  their 
love  feasts  with  closed  doors,  and  their  stern  rebukes  of  all  sin. 
The  membership,  when  they  began  to  work  in  1786,  was  next  to 
nothing,  and,  despite  all  the  difficulties  in  the  way,  Methodist 
societies  now  dot  the  State  from  the  very  door  of  the  Creek  and 
Cherokees  to  the  cities  on  the  sea-coast,  from  Florida  to  the  Blue 
Ridge.  The  work  has  been  outlined,  the  important  points  seized, 
and  though  the  force  is  small,  yet  it  will  hold  its  own  against  all 
comers.  There  were  some  things,  however,  decidedly  in  favor 
of  the  preachers.  The  people  were  starving  for  the  Word ;  they 
were  literally  without  God  in  the  world.  The  very  peculiarities  of 
the  preachers  brought  out  congregations  to  hear  them.  They 
wore  straight-breasted  coats,  broad-brimmed  hats ;  they  looked  as 
no  other  men,  and  preached  like  no  others ;  they  often  stamped 
and  screamed,  wept,  threatened,  exhorted  and  invited.  All  felt 
that  they  were  deeply  in  earnest.  The  power  of  the  Spirit  attended 
their  labors,  and  many  who  came  to  scoff  remained  to  pray. 

Yet  how  heroic  was  the  endurance  demanded !  There  was 
probably  not  a  bridge  in  Georgia ;  there  was  not  a  turnpike ;  in 
many  whole  counties  there  was  not  a  pane  of  glass ;  in  some  not 
a  saw  mill  nor  a  framed  building.  Pole-cabins,  with  bedaubed 
cracks,  a  dirt  floor,  and  a  stick-and-dirt  chimney,  where  one  room 
furnishes  living  room  and  sleeping  room,  were  the  houses  of  the 
people.  As  we  have  seen,  the  circuit  preacher  found  no  churches 
ready  for  him,  oftentimes  no  preaching  places  selected,  not  a  sin- 
gle member  of  the  Society.  He  came  into  a  section,  he  sought 
out  the  kind-hearted  settler,  and  left  an  appointment  for  that 
day  two  weeks  at  his  cabin,  and  on  that  day  he  came.  A  cabin 
full  of  the  neighbors  was  there.  The  men  were  dressed  in  hunt- 
ing-shirts, and  either  bare- footed  or  with  Indian  Moccasins  on ; 
the  women  in  the  plainest  garb  of  country-made  stuff" — nearly  all 
of  them  simple-hearted  and  ignorant.     The  preacher  preached, 

•Minutes. 


52  History  of 

souls  were  convicted,  and  after  a  fearful  struggling  there  was 
a  thorough  conversion.  The  preacher  finished  his  sermon,  and 
on  a  puncheon  the  plain  food,  simply  "lye  hominy"  and  bear  or 
deer  meat,  was  set.  After  dinner  he  must  ride  on,  for  there  was 
another  appointment  miles  beyond.  A  creek  was  in  the  way — 
he  swam  it ;  he  had  no  road,  but  a  blazed  pathway  through  the 
woods  led  him  to  the  settlement.  He  received  no  money  for  the 
people  had  none.  His  clothing  was  of  plainest  material,  often 
patched,  often  ragged.  Bishop  George  (says  Dunwody)  said, 
"if  our  poverty  was  our  purity,  some  of  us  ought  to  be  purified 
ere  long."  I  noticed,  said  the  preacher,  a  large  slit  in  the  Bish- 
op's own  coat,  and  this  was  thirty  years  after  this  time.  It  was 
not  often  he  received  even  his  small  allowance.  Henry  Smith, 
of  Maryland,  came  to  conference  in  these  days  with  four  dollars 
as  his  total  yearly  receipts.  Some  of  the  preachers  had  a  small 
patrimony,  which  they  spent  in  the  work.  When  a  man  married, 
he  located ;  when  he  died,  they  sold  his  horse  and  books,  and 
paid  his  burial  expenses ;  and  when  he  wore  out,  he  wandered 
from  neighborhood  to  neighborhood,  cherished  kindly  by  his 
brethren  who  were  able  to  shelter  him. 

The  Georgia  people  were  nearly  all  poor  at  this  period — the 
Methodists  the  poorest  of  the  Georgians ;  and  while  in  Wilkes 
and  in  some  of  the  eastern  counties  there  were  some  families  of 
wealth  and  influence  who  adhered  to  the  Methodists,  the  general 
state  of  the  country  and  the  church  was,  in  1793,  such  as  we  have 
tried  to  picture  it. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

1 794- 1 804. 

The  United  Conference  made  one,  and  known  thereafter  as 
the  South  Carolina  Conference,  met  in  the  forks  of  Broad  River, 
Abbeville  district,  South  Carolina,  January  1,  1794. 

The  conference  was  much  straitened  for  room,  having  only  one 
chamber  twelve  feet  square  to  confer  in,  sleep  in,  and  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  sick;  for  one  of  the  brethren  (P.  B.), 
probably  Philip  Bruce,  was  quite  unwell,  and  so  was  Asbury. 
They,  however,  completed  their  business,  and  ordained  four  eld- 
ers and  six  deacons.* 

This  year  the  entire  State  of  South  Carolina,  and  all  of  the 
State  of  Georgia  then  settled,  was  included  in  one  district,  which 
was  placed  in  charge  of  Philip  Bruce.  The  circuits  were  dimin- 
ished in  numbers,  and  there  were  only  three,  with  six  preachers. 
Hull  took  an  appointment  at  this  conference  for  the  last  time, 
as  at  the  next  he  located,  to  return  to  the  itinerancy  no  more. 
Philip  Bruce,  the  new  presiding  elder,  was  one  of  the  princes 
of  early  Methodism.  He  was  a  Virginian,  and  a  direct  descend- 
ant of  those  Huguenots  who,  exiled  from  France  because  of 
religion,  came  to  Virginia.  He  entered  the  conference  with 
Thomas  Humphries  and  John  Major,  in  1783.  He  had  now 
traveled  twelve  years,  and  from  the  date  of  his  eldership  had 
been  on  districts. 

His  districts  were  large  and  important,  sweeping  from  the  At- 
lantic seaboard  to  the  Ohio.  Wherever  the  post  of  difficulty  and 
danger  was,  he  was  found.  Carolina  and  Georgia  needed  him, 
and  he  came  to  give  his  services  to  these  important  but  feebly 
manned  conferences.  He  was  a  man  of  fine  personal  appear- 
ance, with  the  striking  features  of  a  French  Huguenot.  His  ex- 
pression was  calm,  dignified  and  determined  ;  his  manner  most 
elegant,  and  graceful. f  He  had  an  intellect  of  decidedly  high 
order,  and  a  heart  thoroughly  consecrated  to  the  work  of  the 
church. $  He  was  a  man  of  such  spirit  and  judgment  that  As- 
bury leaned  on  him  as  a  second  self.  He  was  the  corps  com- 
mander on  whom  that  general  most  relied.  He  never  located 
for  he  never  married.  He  traveled  for  thirty-seven  consecutive 
years,  then  was  superannuated,  and  spent  his  last  days  in  Ten- 
nessee, though  still  holding  his  connection  with  the  Virginia  con- 
ference.   At  length,  full  of  years  and  honors,  he  died. 

*Asbury's  Journal.     tSprague  and  Bennett.     {Bennett. 


54  History  of 

Could  Bruce  have  given  Georgia,  as  Ivy  had,  his  entire  time, 
a  great  work  must  have  been  done,  despite  the  times ;  but,  with 
two  great  States  to  travel  over,  he  could  do  but  little  towards 
meeting  the  demands  of  any  single  section.  He  remained  only 
one  year  on  the  district,  and  then  returned  to  Virginia.  It  is  not 
possible,  however  desirable  it  may  be,  to  give  a  full  account  of 
all  the  laborers  in  Georgia  at  this  period.  The  old  men  who 
might  have  told  us  of  them  are  gone.  There  were  neither  church 
newspapers  nor  magazines  in  those  days,  and  locating,  as  most 
of  the  preachers  did,  long  before  their  death,  they  drop  from  the 
minutes.  Of  Douthet,  Russell,  Posey,  Clark,  and  King,  the  Geor- 
gia preachers,  we  know  scarcely  anything;  of  some  of  them  only 
the  name.  The  next  year  there  was  not  one  of  them  this  side 
of  the  Savannah. 

The  year  1794  was  a  dark  year  for  all  the  churches  in  Georgia, 
and  especially  for  Methodism.     Laborers  were  imperatively  de- 
manded; but  what  had  the  church  to  promise  to  men  for  a  life 
of  such  toil  and  sacrifice  as  she  required?     All  things  seemed 
adverse  to  religion,  the  country  was  being  opened  up  rapidly,  emi- 
grants were  pouring  into  the  new  lands  along  the  banks  of  the 
Oconee,  and  with  the  usual  results  of  unsettled  society.     Political 
strife  was  high,  the  leading  men  of  the  State  were  duellists  and 
infidels,  and  the  whole  State  was  in  a  blaze  of  angry  fury,  be- 
cause of  the  recently  perpetrated  Yazoo  sale.     The  State  Legis- 
lature had  sold  to  a  private  company,  for  $500,000  all  that  grand 
domain  west  of    the  Chattahoochee,  and    which  includes    now 
the  States  of  Alabama  and  Mississippi.    This  matter  engaged  the 
people,   rather  than   going  to  week-day  preaching  or   attending 
class-meeting.     There  was  nothing  remarkable  then  in  the  de- 
creasing numbers  in  society.    The  conference  met  in  Charleston, 
January  1,  1795.    The  scarcity  of  laborers  rendered  it  impossible 
to     supply    all    the     work,     and    one     man    could  no  longer  de- 
vote himself  to  the  presidency  of  the  district.     The  Savannah, 
Oconee  and  Elbert  Circuits  were  given  up,  and  merged  into  the 
Washington,  Burke  and  Richmond.     Josias  Randle  was  placed 
on  the  Burke  Circuit,  and  in  charge  of  the  district.     The  Wash- 
ington Circuit  had  declined  in  membership  from  nine  hundred 
to  three  hundred,  and  there  were  now  reported  in  the  societies 
of  the  State  only  1,028  members,  the  membership  five  years  be- 
fore having  been  double  that  number.     The  State  was  increasing 
rapidly  in  wealth  and  population,  but  the  church  could  no  longer 
furnish  the  class  of  traveling  preachers  demanded.     Hope  Hull 
had  located,  and  opened  a  High   School  at  Succoth   Academy, 


Georgia  Methodism.  55 

three  miles  from  Washington.  John  Andrew  was  also  teaching 
in  Wilkes.  The  newly  settled  sections  of  the  country  always 
demand  the  highest  order  of  men;  but,  alas!  whence  were  they 
now  to  come?  The  Georgia  district  took  the  same  shape  it  had 
when  Richard  Ivy  first  came  in  1788.  The  preachers  in  charge 
were  Randle,  Moore,  Guerry,  Wilson  Tankersly.  Of  these  three 
had  just  entered  the  conference,  and  of  them  only  Josias  Randle 
was  to  remain  in  Georgia  for  any  length  of  time.  How  many 
separate  societies  there  were  then  in  Georgia  we  can  not  tell. 
From  the  records  of  the  Baptist  church  we  learn  that  there  were 
twenty-six  churches,*  and  perhaps  half  the  number  of  preachers. 
There  was  certainly  not  less  than  a  hundred  congregations  to 
which  the  Methodists  preached. 

It  is  evident,  from  a  survey  of  this  period,  that  the  great  revival 
from  1786  to  1791  had  lost  its  power,  and  there  was  a  general 
religious  declension,  which  continued  till  near  the  beginning  of 
the  new  century.  The  conference  met  in  Charleston  again  Janu- 
ary 1,  1796.  Bishop  Asbury  was  present,  and  there  were  about 
twenty  members  of  the  body.  The  session  was  a  peaceful  one, 
and  the  tide  of  religious  interest  rose  high.  The  Bishop  at  this 
conference  received  the  tidings  of  the  burning  of  Cokesbury  Col- 
lege. It  had  been  an  ill-advised  enterprise ;  but  the  determined 
Dr.  Coke,  against  Asbury 's  calmer  and  better  judgment,  entered 
upon  it,  and  then  returned  to  England,  leaving  his  already  bur- 
dened colleague  to  carry  the  additional  and  very  heavy  weight. 
It  was  now  burned,  and  Asbury  gave  himself  to  work  more 
pleasing  and  successful  than  building  a  college. f 

Jonathan  Jackson  and  Josias  Randle  were  appointed  to  the 
Burke  Circuit,  and  Jackson  was  to  have  charge  of  the  district, 
but  the  design  was  for  each  of  them  to  visit  the  older  sections 
of  the  State,  and  endeavor  to  establish  Methodism  there. 

Samuel  Cowles,  another  Virginian,  who  was  to  do  much  work 
for  the  Church  in  Georgia,  came  this  year  to  the  State.  He  had 
been  a  dragoon  with  Washington's  Light  Horse.  In  the  battle  of 
Cowpens  he  swept  down  with  upraised  sabre  upon  a  British 
trooper,  whom  he  disarmed,  and  was  about  to  cut  him  down.  The 
trooper  gave  him  the  Masonic  signal  of  distress,  and  he  spared 
his  life.  Years  after,  he  met  his  old  foe  in  Thomas  Darley,  a 
brother-in-arms,  in  the   South   Carolina  Conference. 

As  Asbury  was  making  a  journey  through  Virginia,  he  spent 
a  night  at  Samuel  Cowles'  mother,  and  with  them  left  a  good 
book.    Through  its  influence  the  family  was  converted,  and  Sam- 

*Campbe]l's  Baptists,     t Asbury 's  Journal. 


56  History  of 

uel  became  a  preacher.  He  traveled  for  some  years,  then  located 
and  settled  in  the  new  county  of  Warren.  Here  he  labored  as  a 
local  preacher,  and  as  there  was  Cowles'  Iron  Works  in  the 
county,  he  probably  became  an  iron-maker.  He  removed  to 
Monroe  County  in  its  early  settlement,  and  died  a  good  man,  at 
a  good  old  age. 

Asbury  crossed  the  river  not  far  from  Augusta,  and  rode 
through  the  city,  whose  streets,  he  mentions,  had  been  ploughed 
into  deep  gullies  for  two  miles  by  the  angry  waters  of  the  Savan- 
nah. On  this  visit,  for  the  first  time  Asbury  preached  in  the  city 
in  the  old  St.  Paul's  Church,  which  was,  at  that  period,  free  to  all. 
His  congregation  consisted  of  400  hearers.*  He  rode  on  through 
Columbia  County,  and  after  preaching  at  White  Oak,  was  forced 
to  ride  fifteen  miles  after  sermon  before  he  could  get  his  dinner. 
He  swam  Little  River  in  Wilkes,  and  on  Friday  was  at  Combs' 
Meeting  House,  and  that  evening  at  Gartrell's.  The  next  day  he 
rode  to  the  school  at  Coke's  Chapel,  three  miles  from  Washington. 
Here  Hope  Hull  had  his  academy.  He  then  preached  at  Pope's 
Chapel,  and  crossed  the  river  into  South  Carolina  at  Petersburg. 
There  was  but  little  change,  and  no  improvement  in  the  condition 
of  things  this  year. 

The  General  Conference  met  every  four  years.  It  was  com- 
posed of  all  the  traveling  elders  of  the  Church.  The  main  body 
of  its  members  were  therefore  always  from  those  conferences 
nearest  to  the  place  of  meting,  which  had  been  and  was  Balti- 
more. It  met  this  year  in  that  city,  and  we  have  the  first  printed 
record  of  its  doings. 

At  this  conference  the  form  of  a  deed  of  settlement  for  church 
property,  based  upon  the  one  so  sternly  required  by  Mr.  Wesley 
in  England,  which  aimed  to  place  the  property  where  neither  the 
ambition  of  preachers  nor  the  whims  of  congregations  could  af- 
fect it,  was  decided  upon.  Rules  were  adopted  for  the  graduation 
of  deacons  to  elder's  orders.  Provision  was  made  for  the  publi- 
cation of  a  magazine  like  the  Arminian  Magazine  in  England. 
Specific  rules  were  adopted,  evidently  at  the  instance  of  Dr.  Coke, 
for  the  regulation  of  the  students  in  our  seminaries.  These  rules 
were  Spartan  enough  in  their  sternness,  and  entirely  impractica- 
ble. The  plan  for  a  chartered  fund  was  adopted ;  slavery  came 
in  for  its  share  of  fruitless  legislation.  The  preachers  were  in- 
structed to  proceed  against  all  who  retailed  spirituous  liquors, 
as  in  the  case  of  all  other  immoralities.     The  allowances  for  the 

*  Journal. 


Georgia  Methodism.  57 

preachers  were  fixed  at  sixty-four  dollars  for  a  man,  and  the  same 
for  his  wife,  with  nothing  for  family  expenses. 

During  the  year  a  decline  of  forty  members  was  reported  in  the 
Georgia  Conference.  It  will  be  remembered  that  church  dis- 
cipline was  summary  and  certain  in  those  days.  Three  times 
absence  from  class,  a  ribbon,  a  ruffle,  or  a  ring,  and  the  preacher 
erased  the  name  from  the  class-book.  To  be  turned  out  of  so- 
ciety was  a  constant  dread  of  the  conscientious  member,  and  a 
neglect  to  enforce  discipline  the  most  serious  charge  against  a 
preacher.  The  Novatians  of  the  early  church  were  scarcely  more 
rigid  in  discipline  than  the  early  Methodists,  therefore  these 
figures  do  not  indicate  no  success  in  winning  souls. 

The  Conference  of  1797  met  in  Charleston,  and  this  time  Coke 
was  with  Asbury.  There  were  cheering  reports,  says  Asbury's 
Journal,  from  Georgia,  but  there  are  certainly  none  in  the  printed 
minutes. 

The  appointments  this  year  were  the  best  which  had  been  made 
for  several  years. 

Enoch  George,  afterwards  Bishop,  took  the  district,  and  James 
Jenkins  was  preacher  in  charge  of  the  Washington  Church. 
Hope  Hull  was  placed  as  a  supply  on  the  Augusta  station,  though 
it  does  not  appear  that  he  went  there;  if  he  did,  it  is  certain  he 
organized  no  church.  Randle,  with  two  young  assistants,  was 
in  lower  Georgia.  Enoch  George  was  a  Virginian,  and  when  he 
came  to  Georgia  was  about  thirty  years  of  age.  He  had  been 
converted  under  the  flaming  ministry  of  John  Easter,  and  entered 
the  ministry  soon  afterward.  After  traveling  a  very  hard  circuit 
in  North  Carolina  as  a  supply,  he  entered  the  conference  regu- 
larly. He  came  at  once  to  South  Carolina,  and  after  a  few  years 
on  circuits  was  made  presiding  elder.  This  year  he  was  on  the 
Georgia  District.  There  were  only  three  circuits  in  his  district, 
but  they  covered  almost  the  whole  State.  Six  preachers  had  all 
the  work  to  do.  The  church  had  not  prospered  since  Richard 
Ivy  left  the  State  and  Hope  Hull  located.  No  presiding  elder 
had  been  able  to  give  it  all  his  time,  at  a  day  when  it  needed  it 
most.  George  came  in  good  time.  He  was  the  man  for  the  oc- 
casion. 

He  was  rather  gross-looking.  His  hair  was  thick,  bushy  and 
long.  He  was  very  careless  in  his  dress,  and  was  not  prepossess- 
ing in  his  appearance ;  his  voice  was  rich  and  sweet,  his  enuncia- 
tion clear  and  distinct.  In  prayer  he  had  wonderful  power.  In 
preaching  he  wept,  and  all  about  him  wept.     His  piety  was  deep 


58  History  of 

and  beautiful,*  his  consecration  to  the  work  entire,  and  his  suc- 
cess in  winning  souls  was  great.  He  gave  himself  to  his  work 
in  Georgia  with  great  zeal,  and  with  his  coming  the  ebbing  tide 
was  stayed.  It  did  not  until  a  few  years  after  rise  to  a  flood,  but 
it  ceased  to  ebb.  James  Jenkins  was  now  on  the  Washington 
Circuit,  and  we  get  the  first  view  of  its  boundaries.  It  included 
the  at  present  counties  of  Greene,  Taliaferro,  Wilkes,  Lincoln, 
Elbert,  Hart,  Franklin,  Madison  and  Oglethorpe.  There  were 
now  a  number  of  church  buildings  erected.  Among  them  was 
Burke's  Meeting  house  and  Liberty  Chapel,  in  Greene.  At  Lib- 
erty Chapel,  Jenkins  exhorted  after  George,  and  a  man  in  uni- 
form came  forward,  and  falling  at  his  feet,  begged  him  to  pray 
for  him;  others  came  likewise,  and  this,  says  Jenkins,  was,  as 
far  as  he  knew,  the  beginning  of  the  custom  of  public  profession 
of  penitence,  or  in  Methodist  parlance,  going  to  the  altar.  The 
meeting,  he  says,  was  such  a  noisy  one  that  he  wondered  the 
horses  did  not  take  fright. f 

The  Conference  of  1798  met  in  Charleston,  but  for  the  first 
time  Asbury  was  absent.  He  was  sick  in  Virginia.  The  disease 
of  his  lungs,  which  finally  caused  his  death,  had  so  alarmingly 
threatened  him  then,  that  his  physicians  forbade  his  traveling. 
The  responsibility  of  the  appointments  rested  with  Dr.  Coke;  but 
he  was  assisted  by  Jesse  Lee,  who  had  been  requested  by  Asbury 
to  go  to  Charleston.  Dr.  Coke,  on  his  journey  from  England, 
had  been  captured  by  a  French  privateer,  and  after  being  strip- 
ped of  all  his  other  goods,  with  his  books  and  papers,  had  been 
landed  on  the  Virginia  coast,  and  had  reached  the  Virginia  Con- 
ference. He  now  came  South  with  Jesse  Lee.  The  Conference 
concluded  its  session  without  having  accomplished  anything  of 
special  note. 

Enoch  George,  strong  as  he  was,  broke  down  in  the  work,  and 
did  not  return  to  the  Georgia  District  but  was  succeeded  by  Ben- 
jamin Blanton.  He  was  a  Virginian,  who  had  been  ten  years  in 
the  work.  He  began  his  itinerancy  in  the  mountains  of  Virginia, 
and  ended  it  in  Georgia.  After  traveling  the  district  this  year 
he  located  and  settled  in  Oglethorpe  County,  where  he  lived  a 
useful  local  preacher  for  many  years.  He  married  this  year  a 
Miss  Huet,J  and,  as  was  universally  the  custom,  ceased  to  itiner- 
ate. He  was  a  pure,  good  man,  who  always  took  the  greatest 
interest  in  the  church  and  did  much  for  it.  When  an  old  man, 
in  love-feast  one  day,  he  said  "that  he  thought,  when  he  had  been 
forty   years   in   the   wilderness,   he   would   have  been   called   to 

*Dr.  Luckey  in  Sprague.     t  Jenkins'  Life,  83.     J  Jenkins. 


Georgia  Methodism.  59 

cross  Jordan ;  but  he  had  been  now  over  forty  years  in  it,  and  he 
was  still  browsing  on  the  banks  of  the  river."  He  re-entered  the 
conference  in  his  old  age,  and  was  at  once  superannuated.  His 
family,  in  1845,  had  gone  to  the  camp-meeting,  and  he  was  to 
follow,  but  that  evening,  being  quite  unwell,  he  remained  with  his 
wife  and  some  of  his  children  at  home.  That  night  he  sat  up  in 
bed  and  prayed  aloud  for  the  last  time  with  unusual  power,  and 
the  next  day  he  sank  calmly  to  sleep  on  the  bosom  of  his  Lord. 
He  was  thrice  married,  and  his  descendants  are  at  this  time  among 
the  most  useful  members  of  the  church  to  which  he  gave  his  early 
life. 

After  the  adjournment  of  the  conference,  Lee  visited  Georgia, 
going  as  far  west  as  the  Oconee,  in  Greene  County,  and  returning 
in  February.  He  crossed  the  Savannah  at  Barksdale  Ferry.  He 
says  he  was  greatly  comforted  with  his  visits  to  Georgia,  where 
he  spent  twenty-seven  days,  and  preached  twenty-one  sermons. 
The  country  was  much  better  than  he  expected  to  find  it,  and  the 
parts  in  which  he  traveled  were  chiefly  settled  by  Virginians. 
They  lived  well,  but  appeared  to  him  to  be  ungovernable  in 
church  and  state.  It  was  a  good  country  for  corn,  tobacco  and 
cotton,  and  also  for  oats,  wheat  and  potatoes.  In  the  pine  woods 
there  were  a  great  many  salamanders,  which  perhaps  were  not 
found  in  any  other  State  in  the  Union.  He  expected  that  there 
would  be  a  great  revival  of  religion  in  Georgia  soon.*  In  this 
hope  he  was  not  disappointed,  as  we  shall  see. 

George  Dougherty  was  appointed  this  year  to  the  Oconee  Cir- 
cuit, which  was  again  called  into  existence.  The  Cherokees  and 
Creeks  were  on  the  western  bank  of  the  river  still,  but  the  fields 
of  the  white  settlers  were  on  its  eastern  borders.  The  circuit  was 
a  large  one  and  a  hard  one,  and  courage  was  demanded  from  the 
man  who  was  to  do  the  work,  and  there  never  was  a  braver  heart 
in  a  frail  body  than  that  which  beat  in  the  bosom  of  the  inexperi- 
enced boy  who  was  sent  to  these  wilds.  He  had  only  one  eye, 
was  pitted  with  smallpox,  and  was  most  careless  about  his  dress. 
He  had  no  outward  marks  of  greatness,  but  we  doubt  whether  the 
American  pulpit  ever  had  in  it  a  truer  genius  or  a  more  regal  soul 
than  George  Dougherty.  This  was  his  second  year,  and  the  only 
one  spent  in  Georgia.  He  then  returned  to  South  Carolina,  where 
he  toiled  faithfully  until  the  burning  soul  consumed  his  frail 
frame,  and,  in  what  should  have  been  the  vigor  of  his  life,  he 
died.f  He  was,  we  have  said,  a  genius,  and  his  attainments  were 
remarkable.    "He  used,"  said  old  Dr.  Pierce,  "to  visit  my  father's 

*  Jenkins.      tSprague. 


60  History  of 

house,  and  when  on  his  district  my  first  year  I  read  to  him  from 
the  English  Bible,  while  he  compared  the  version  with  the  original 
Hebrew."  There  was  much  infidelity  in  those  days,  and  Dough- 
erty gave  careful  study  to  the  science  of  apologetics.  His  attain- 
ments here  amazed  those  scholarly  men  who  heard  him.  His  ser- 
mons were  rich  in  original  thoughts,  full  of  pathos  and  power. 
His  denunciations  of  sin  were  fearless  and  stirring.  The  mob  in 
Charleston,  angered  by  his  faithfulness,  once  nearly  caused  his 
death  by  pumping  water  upon  him  from  the  town  pump,  and  he 
was  only  rescued  by  the  courage  of  a  good  woman,  who  rushing 
to  the  pump,  stuffed  her  apron  in  the  spout.*  Bishop  Andrew 
was  rarely  more  enthused  than  when  telling  of  the  traditions  of 
his  pulpit  power,  and  Dr.  Lovick  Pierce,  who  knew  him  well,  so 
carried  away  as  when  telling  the  story  of  his  eloquence,  learn- 
ing and  piety.  When  the  history  of  Methodism  in  South  Carolina 
is  written  it  may  be  that  he  will  be  placed  on  his  true  pedestal.  To 
the  present  generation  he  would  be  almost  unknown,  save  for  the 
faithful  labors  of  a  Presbyterian,  the  good  Dr.  Sprague,  who  from 
Bishop  Andrew  and  Dr.  Pierce,  gathered  the  remaining  frag- 
ments of  fact  from  which  to  erect  his  monument.  The  last  con- 
ference he  attended  was  in  the  bounds  of  the  only  circuit  he  had 
traveled  in  Georgia. 

Bishop  Asbury's  health  having  improved,  he  came  to  Georgia  in 
November.  He  crossed  the  Savannah  above  Augusta,  and  stop- 
ped with  Wm.  Tait,  and  preached  at  Tait's  Chapel.  Wm.  Tait 
was  related  to  Judge  Charles  Tait,  the  great  friend  of  W.  H. 
Crawford,  and  afterward  senator  in  Congress.  The  Judge  was 
himself  the  friend  of  Asbury,  and  in  after  years  Asbury  was 
entertained  at  his  own  home.  He  went  from  thence  to  Ralph 
Banks.  Ralph  Banks  was  his  host  often  after  this.  He  was  a 
remarkable  man  and  brought  up  a  remarkable  family.  On  one  of 
Asbury's  visits  to  Elbert,  he  mentioned  that  he  stopped  with 
Ralph  Banks,  whose  handsome  and  healthy  wife,  thirty-six  years 
old.  had  twelve  children.  From  this  family  sprang  some  of  the 
leading  Methodist  families  in  Georgia,  and  of  eight  sons,  every 
one  of  them  arrived  at  distinction,  and  several  of  them  acquired 
great  wealth,  and  all  of  them  preserved  their  Methodist  connec- 
tions. Their  descendants  are  today  a  numerous  and  influential 
people  in  the  State,  and  nearly  all  of  them  leading  Methodists. 
From  that  home  he  went  to  Franklin  Countv  to  the  home  of 
Henry  Parks,  and  then  turning  his  course  southward  he  came  to 
Charles  Wakefield's,  in  Oglethorpe,  and  sent  Jessee  Lee  to  visit 

*Mood. 


Georgia  Methodism.  61 

the  Ogeechee,  while  he  remained  behind  to  nurse  Benj.  Blanton, 
who  was  sick.  The  next  day  he  rode  to  Burrell  Pope's,  riding 
from  one  plantation  to  another  on  Blanton's  stiff-jointed  horse, 
which  he  said  he  would  not  ride  except  to  save  souls  or  the 
health  of  a  brother.*  Jessee  Lee  having  accomplished  his  work, 
returned  to  Asbury,  and  they  went  to  Henry  Pope's.  They  now 
turned  their  course  westward,  and  in  December,  1799,  he 
preached  in  Greensboro.  Here  there  was  a  Presbyterian  church, 
the  first  mention  we  have  of  one  in  upper  Georgia ;  it  was  estab- 
lished by  Father  Cummings,  the  first  Presbyterian  minister  in 
this  part  of  the  State.  The  county  of  Greene  had  been  a  separate 
county  for  thirteen  years,  and  it  is  probable  that  from  the  very 
first  it  had  been  included  in  the  bounds  of  the  Washington  Cir- 
cuit. Although  we  had  no  church  in  Greensboro,  there  were  sev- 
eral in  Greene  County,  such  as  they  were ;  one  at  Burke's,  one  at 
Crutchfield's,  and  at  Little  Britain,  which  was  ''open  at  the  top, 
bottom  and  sides. "f  Hope  Hull,  Josias  Randle,  Samuel  Cowles, 
and  Wm.  Partridge,  met  the  good  Bishop,  and  they  had  a  family 
meeting  at  Mother  Hill's.  She  was  probably  the  mother  of  Whit- 
man C.  Hill,  and  lived  in  Oglethorpe  County.  They  had  quarterly 
meetings  at  Mark's,  and  rode  twenty  miles  to  Hope  Hull's,  near 
Washington.  He  preached  at  David  Meriwether's,  and  took  sad- 
dle for  Augusta.  All  the  trading  of  the  country  was  then  with 
Augusta,  so  that  the  roads  were  wretched.  They,  however, 
ploughed  through  the  mud,  and  reached  the  city  by  the  Sabbath. 
Here  Asbury  says  he  heard  a  sermon  in  the  morning  and 
preached  one  in  the  afternoon.  Asbury  now  recrossed  the  Sa- 
vannah and  entered  into  South  Carolina,  and  went  to  Charleston, 
where  the  conference  session  was  to  be  held.  During  all  this 
journey  Jesse  Lee  traveled  with  Bishop  Asbury,  and  was  his 
most  efficient  colaborer.  No  two  men  could  have  differed  more  in 
everything  except  the  aim,  grand  and  glorious,  to  which  each  of 
their  lives  was  directed.  Lee  was  large  in  body,  and  Asbury  del- 
icate. Lee  was  full  of  humor,  and  Asbury  grave  and  thoughtful. 
Lee  found  a  joy  in  the  encounter  with  difficulties,  and  to  Asbury 
the  sweet  quiet  of  home  was  the  delight  of  life.  Lee  in  the  mid- 
dle ages  would  have  been  Richard  of  the  Lion  Heart,  Asbury,  St. 
Francis  of  Assisi.  Lee  had  ere  this  made  his  power  felt  over  the 
whole  connection.  From  the  Penobscot  to  the  Oconee  he  had 
labored.  Like  some  brave  knight  of  the  olden  time,  his  massive 
form  and  the  flashing  battle-axe  had  been  seen  where  the  foes 
were  the  strongest  and  their  ranks  were  the  thickest.     He  had 

*  Asbury  'a  Journal,     tlbid. 


62  History  of 

gone  to  New  England  alone  and  unfriended,  and,  against  intoler- 
ance the  fiercest  and  opposition  the  sternest,  he  had  planted  Meth- 
odism in  all  that  land.  He  will  appear  in  our  history  in  an  after- 
day  more  than  once,  but  not  as  we  would  have  desired  to  see 
him,  as  the  episcopal  colleague  of  Francis  Asbury.  Had  this 
intrepid,  energetic,  earnest  Virginian,  in  middle  life,  been  chosen 
instead  of  the  shrinking,  retiring  and  aged  Whatcoat,  to  the 
office  of  Bishop,  the  Church  had  been  better  served  when  she 
needed  service  most,  and  the  overburdened  Asbury  relieved  and 
assisted. 

Samuel  Cowles  returned  again  to  Georgia,  and  was  on  the 
Washington  Circuit.  He  was  accompanied  by  Alexander  Mc- 
Caine.  McCaine  was  a  young  man  of  fine  person  and  of  fine 
gifts,  and  was  destined  to  occupy  a  high  place  in  the  Church,  for 
he  was  stationed  in  after-years  in  the  leading  cities  of  the  East. 
After  thirty  years  of  active  and  efficient  ministry  among  the  Epis- 
copal Methodists,  he  left  his  old  associates  and  was  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church.  He  occupied  a 
prominent  place  in  this  body  till  his  death,  which  occurred  in 
1856.  He  lived  to  see  the  church  of  his  early  love,  for  whose 
welfare  the  best  energies  of  his  young  and  mature  life  were  put 
forth,  sadly  torn  and  divided ;  to  see  Snethen,  Shinn  and  Jennings 
in  bitter  strife  with  their  old  colleagues;  he  lived  to  see  all  the 
smoke  of  battle  pass  away,  and  until  almost  all  remembrance  of 
the  strife  had  ended,  and  to  see  some  of  his  own  children  and 
grandchildren  in  the  church  which  he  had  left ;  and  to  have  the 
kindly  care  of  the  ministers  in  his  last  hours ;  and  when  he  died,  it 
was  from  the  altars  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  the  old 
hero  was  buried. 

Nicolas  Waters  came  from  Maryland  to  take  place  on  the 
Burke  Circuit.  He  was  the  brother  of  Wm.  Waters,  the  first 
native  American  who  entered  the  traveling  connection.  He  en- 
tered the  ministry  in  1776,  located  in  1779,  re-entered  the  con- 
nection, and  finally  died  in  Charleston  in  1804.  He  was  at  this 
time  fifty  years  old,  and  had  been  really  at  work  since  1772, 
though  not  regularly  licensed  till  four  years  later.  He  was  a  con- 
secrated man,  distinguished  for  his  moral  courage,  ardent  zeal, 
and  unwearying  labors.  His  heavenly-mindedness  and  uniform 
simplicity  of  deportment  greatly  endeared  him  to  his  brethren.* 
His  family  removed  to  Georgia  after  his  death,  and  one  of  his 
grandsons,  W.  W.  Oslin,  died  a  member  of  the  conference. 

The  Church  gained  ground,  though  slowly.     The  membership 

*Mood  and  the  Minutes. 


Georgia  Methodism.  63 

was  1,318.  For  the  first  time  Augusta  appears  in  the  minutes, 
and  Methodism  in  Georgia  reports  one  considerable  town  in  her 
list  of  appointments.  For  fifteen  years  the  preachers  had  been 
at  work,  but  they  had  made  up  to  this  time  no  impression  on  the 
two  important  towns  in  the  State.  There  were  really  only  three 
of  any  size  in  Georgia — Savannah,  Augusta,  and  Petersburg,  in 
Elbert  County.  In  none  of  these  had  the  Methodists  a  church 
building,  and  in  only  one  of  them  a  society. 

The  Conference  of  1799  met  at  Charleston.    Bishop  Asbury  was 
able  to  come  to  it,  and  to  preside.    Josias  Randle  was  forced  to 
locate  for  a  time.    It  was  a  deplorable  necessity  indeed  that  called 
for  the  location  of  such  men  as  Richard  Ivy,  Reuben  Ellis,  Hope 
Hull,  Benj.  Blanton  and  Josias  Randle;  but  excessive  labor,  ex- 
posure to  all  kinds  of  weather,  and  preaching  every  day,  and  hard- 
ships of  every  kind,  were  too  much  for  the  strong  men  even  of 
that  iron  age,  and  they  were  driven  from  the  work  not  only  by 
their  family  needs,  but  often  by  failing  health.    At  this  conference 
Stith  Mead,  who  was  reported  as  being  on  the  Burke  Circuit  with 
Wm.  Avant,  became  regularly  a  member  of  the  conference.     In 
our  chapter  on  Methodism  in  the  cities,  we  have  given  a   full 
sketch  of  this  father  of  Methodism  in  Augusta.     Georgia  had 
long  needed  such  a  man,  if  she  had  not  deserved  him,  and  he 
came  not  a  moment  too  soon — the  very  man  for  the  very  time. 
Blanton  took  the  district  for  the  second  and  last  time.     Samuel 
Cowles  was  the  only  one  of  the  old  line  who  remained  in  Georgia. 
There  was  an  entirely  new  detachment  sent  to  the  field.     Stith 
Mead  was  sent  as  preacher  on  the  Burke  Circuit,  and  with  him 
was  Wm.  Avant,  with  the  evident  design  of  leaving  Mead  in  Au- 
gusta, in  which  he  was  trying  to  build  a  church.     Tobias  Gibson 
was  sent  this  year  as  missionary  to  the  Natchez  country,  John 
Garvin  to  the  St.  Mary's.    While  all  Georgia  west  of  the  Oconee 
was  in  the  possession  of  the  Indians,  there  was  a  considerable 
body  of  white  settlers  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  in  what 
was  called  the  Natchez  Country.    Some  of  them  had  floated  down 
the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  in  flatboats,  to  those  fertile  lands  in 
what  is  now  Adams  County,  Mississippi.     To  them  Bishop  As- 
bury desired  to  send  a  preacher,  and  Tobias  Gibson  volunteered 
to  go.    He  was  a  South  Carolinian,  and  was,  at  this  session  of  the 
conference,  twenty-nine  years  old.     He  had  entered  upon   the 
work  as  a  traveling  preacher  when  twenty-one,  and  had  faithful- 
ly traveled  hard  circuits  in  North  and  South  Carolina.     There 
were  then  more  hardships  to  be  met  with  in  traveling  to  the  banks 
of  the  Mississippi  than  a  voyage  to  China  now  entails.    To  reach 


64  History  of 

his  new  field  Gibson  rode  on  horseback  to  the  falls  of  the  Cum- 
berland at  Nashville,  thence  took  a  canoe,  and  finally  reached  the 
settlements  near  Natchez.  Here  he  labored  for  several  years,  the 
sole  missionary  to  this,  the  most  remote  of  the  American  settle- 
ments, and  here,  a  few  years  afterwards,  he  died  in  great  peace. 
Like  one  of  the  first  missionaries — even  Barnabas,  he  was  a  good 
man,  full  of  faith  and  the  Holy  Ghost.* 

From  the  same  conference,  Jesse  Lee,  with  John  Garvin,  a 
young  Englishman,  who  had  just  come  from  the  African  coast, 
where  he  had  been  laboring  as  a  missionary,  and  who  had  been 
appointed  to  the  settlements  on  the  St.  Mary's,  went  on  a  visit  to 
this,  the  most  remote  southern  point  of  the  American  settlements. 

Florida  was  the  possession  and  under  the  government  of  the 
Spaniards.  Along  the  banks  of  the  St.  Mary's  and  of  the  Sa- 
tilla,  and  in  the  pine  country  back  from  the  coast,  there  were  a 
number  of  settlers,  and  the  town  of  St.  Mary's  was  a  place,  even 
then,  of  some  importance.  The  year  before,  George  Clark  had 
been  a  missionary  to  them,  and  had  formed  a  small  society  in 
Camden  and  Glynn  Counties.  There  was  one  church,  and  one 
only,  as  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  discover,  south  of  Savannah. 
This  was  the  Midway  Congregational  Church,  in  Liberty  County. 
Lee  left  Savannah  early  in  January,  and  rode  Asbury's  old  gray — 
who,  as  the  Bishop  says — suffered  for  it,  through  the  lower  part 
of  South  Carolina,  to  Savannah,  and  thence  to  the  St.  Mary's. 
There  was  a  most  remarkable  snow  storm,  at  this  time,  snow  fall- 
ing to  the  depth  of  two  and  a  half  feet.  He  reached  Savannah 
and  then  rode  through  the  wilds.  The  first  night  he  was  forced 
to  lodge  in  a  deserted  log-cabin  without  doors,  and  with  thirty  or 
forty  hogs  for  room-mates.  He  reached  St.  Mary's  on  the  18th, 
and  preached  in  the  Court  House.  He  rode  on,  preaching  every 
day,  and  found  a  rough  people,  many  of  whom  had  never  heard  a 
sermon,  f 

He  left  Garvin  there  and  returned  to  Charleston.  At  the  end 
of  the  year  Garvin  reported  fourteen  in  the  society.  The  Confer- 
ence for  1800  met  in  Camden,  S.  C.  It  met  at  nine  A.  M.,  and  ad- 
journed at  twelve,  and  had  an  afternoon  session.  These  sessions 
were  chiefly  religious  meetings.  Each  preacher  told  his  experi- 
ence, and  each  one  had  his  character  thoroughly  examined. 
Every  night  there  was  a  band  meeting. 

Isaac  Smith  then  lived  in  Camden,  and  it  was  at  his  instance 
that  the  session  was  held  there.  Two  others  and  himself  sus- 
tained the  South  Carolina  Conference,  but  then  it  was  composed 
*Mood  and  Minutes.      tDr.  Lee,  Life  of  Jesse  Lee. 


Georgia  Methodism.  65 

of  less  than  thirty  members.*  The  conference  did  not  hurry 
through  its  work,  for  it  sat  for  five  days.  There  were  two  clerks 
to  keep  the  journals,  and  one  for  the  minutes.  The  sixty- four 
dollars  allowed  for  the  yearly  expenses  of  the  preachers,  was  paid 
from  a  general  fund  collected  on  the  charges.  From  the  Bishop 
to  the  humblest  preacher,  the  salary  was  the  same,  and  this  year 
it  was  all  paid,  save  a  trifle. 

The  conference  lost  one  of  its  most  efficient  laborers  in  the  lo- 
cation of  Benjamin  Blanton.  It  was  his  last  conference  as  an 
effective  preacher. 

Stith  Mead  was  now  placed  in  charge  of  the  Georgia  District. 
A  better  appointment  could  not  have  been  made,  and  from  this 
time  for  nearly  ten  years  the  work  in  the  State  went  on  with 
steady  prosperity. 

Mead  was  an  eminently  useful  preacher.  He  was  not  a  highly 
gifted  man,  nor  were  his  sermons,  judged  as  intellectual  produc- 
tions, great ;  but  he  was  deeply  pious,  untiring  in  his  labors,  fer- 
vent and  pathetic ;  he  sang  well,  and  sang  many  revival  songs  of 
his  own  composing.  In  addition  to  this,  he  was  an  accomplished 
gentleman,  of  elegant  manners,  and  of  good  cultivation  for  those 
times.  He  found  ready  admission  to  all  circles,  and  as  much  the 
larger  number  of  the  people  were  from  Virginia,  of  which  State 
he  was  a  native,  his  influence  was  decided.  He  had  therefore 
great  success  in  his  work.  Samuel  Cowles  now  went  to  the  im- 
portant Oconee  Circuit,  and  John  Garvin  to  Augusta.  Moses 
Black,  who  did  good  work  in  the  West  in  after-time,  was  this 
year  on  the  Burke  Circuit,  and  Isaac  Cook  also  received  an  ap- 
pointment in  Georgia. 

Britton  Capel  was  sent  to  the  Washington  Circuit  with  Buddy 
Wheeler.  Capel  was  a  Virginian,  and  had  been  two  years  in  the 
work.  He  traveled  for  eleven  years,  and  located  in  1810.  He 
was  an  active  and  useful  preacher,  and  while  he  was  an  itinerant 
had  the  most  important  charges. f  After  his  location  he  became 
dissatisfied  with  the  Episcopal  form  of  government,  and  in  com- 
mon with  Eppes  Tucker  and  several  others  of  the  early  preach- 
ers, he  left  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  for  the  Methodist 
Protestant,  and  in  that  communion  he  died.  In  May  of  this  year 
the  General  Conference  met  in  Baltimore  and  Richard  Whatcoat 
was  elected  Bishop,  defeating  Jesse  Lee  by  four  votes  after  a 
tie  vote  had  been  had.  Lee,  who  had  been  really  a  bishop  for 
some  years,  and  who  had  been  so  nearly  elected,  was  assured  of 

*Asbury 's  Journal.     tDr.  L.  Pierce. 


66  History  of 

misrepresentation  having  been  made,  and  succeeded  in  fixing  it 
upon  the  guilty  party,  and  that  fact  accounted  for  his  defeat. 

Among  those  who  had  labored  in  Georgia  who  were  present 
was  Philip  Bruce,  James  Tolleson,  and  Jesse  Lee.  The  confer- 
ence continued  in  session  for  two  weeks.  Asbury  was  sick  and 
was  much  depressed  in  spirits.  He  was  anxious  to  retire  from 
the  episcopal  office,  but  the  conference  passed  a  vote  of  approval 
and  requested  him  to  continue  in  it.  The  rule  requiring  a 
preacher  to  give  account  of  his  presents  was  rescinded.  Tolle- 
son proposed  a  delegated  general  conference,  which  proposal 
was  negatived. 

Tolleson  moved  the  allowance  of  the  preachers  be  increased 
to  eighty  dollars  per  annum,  which  was  carried.  It  was  moved 
that  the  Bishop  should  have  a  committee  to  assist  him  in  making 
the  appointments,  which  was  not  assented  to.  Very  important 
changes  took  place  in  the  management  of  the  publishing  interests. 
The  whole  of  the  assets  of  the  concern  were  $4,000 ;  the  indebted- 
ness, $3,000.  Ezekiel  Cooper,  however,  was  a  business  man  of 
fine  capacity,  and  he  took  charge  of  the  book  concern,  with  a 
salary  of  $250  per  annum,  clear  of  board  and  house  rent.* 

On  the  29th  of  November,  Asbury,  with  Bishop  Whatcoat, 
reached  Augusta.  They  found  the  indefatigable  Mead  had  suc- 
ceeded in  securing  all  that  was  needful  for  building  the  church. 
Whatcoat  preached  at  Mr.  Fary's  dwelling  house,  and  in  the  af- 
ternoon Asbury  preached  at  St.  Paul's  Church.  He  says  we  had 
the  honor  of  the  priest's  company.  As  there  was  quite  a  number 
of  French  refugee  Catholics  from  Hayti,  it  is  probable  that  the 
priest  was  a  Roman  Catholic.  The  next  day  Whatcoat  and  As- 
bury went  to  Squire  Haynes,  on  Uchee  Creek,  thence  to  Scott's, 
and  on  to  Grant's.  On  Sunday  they  were  at  Coke's  Chapel,  near 
Washington.  Hope  Hull  was  of  course  there,  and  exhorted  after 
Asbury.  From  Washington  they  came  southward  into  Warren 
County,  and  preached  at  Heath's.  Crossed  the  Ogeechee  at 
Thweat's  Bridge,  passed  through  Powelton,  and  came  thence  to 
Edmund  Butler's,  in  Hancock.  There  had  been  a  meeting  house 
here  long  enough  for  the  old  one  to  give  way  to  a  new  one,  which 
was  not  yet  completed. f  This  was  in  1800.  The  first  missionary 
to  Hancock  came  in  1792,  but  it  is  probable  that  this  church  was  in 
the  old  Richmond  Circuit,  and  was  founded  before  Hancock 
County  was  laid  out,  which  was  done  in  1703.  They  then  return- 
ed, and  passing  through  Oglethorpe  and  Elbert,  crossed  the  river 
at  Martin's  Ferry. 
*General   Conference   Journal,      t  Asbury 's   Journal. 


George  Whitefield. 


Bishop  James  ( ).  Andrew 


Georgia  Methodism.  67 

The  great  revival  tide  which  swept  over  America  came  in 
blessing  to  Georgia  this  year.  The  Baptists  participated  largely 
in  it,  and  during  the  next  year,  1802,  over  700  new  members  were 
reported  in  one  association.*  At  this  conference,  January  1, 
1802,  there  was  reported  2,094  white  and  400  colored. 

On  the  31st  October,  Asbury,  Whatcoat,  and  Nicolas  Snethen 
entered  Augusta.  The  church  was  now  so  far  completed  that  it 
could  be  occupied.  The  congregations  were  large,  but  there  was 
no  considerable  awakening.  Nicolas  Snethen,  who  came  with 
Asbury,  was  a  Marylander,  and  was  one  of  the  most  eloquent 
and  cultivated  men  of  the  connection.  He  afterwards,  in  com- 
mon with  many  others,  went  into  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church 
and  had  much  to  do  in  giving  shape  to  an  organization  more  in 
accordance,  as  he  thought,  with  his  firmly  held  views  of  religious 
liberty.f  The  three  travellers  pursued  their  usual  route,  visiting 
Wilkes,  and  on  to  Petersburg.  This  was  then  a  young  town,  in 
which  there  were  eighty  stores ;  now  not  a  cottage  remains. 
Snethen  had  been  very  popular  at  Augusta,  and  Asbury,  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  congregation  there,  sent  him  back  to  spend  some  time 
in  the  city.  The  Bishop  speaks  of  the  sweet  peace  which  filled  his 
heart  as  he  went  from  cabin  to  cabin,  turning  the  cabin  into  a 
court. $  At  Henry  Pope's  they  found  good  quarters.  Here  the 
Bishop  wrote  in  his  journal :  "Why  should  a  living  man  complain : 
But  to  be  three  months  together,  where  you  have  only  one  room 
and  fireplace  and  half  a  dozen  folks  about  you,  strangers  perhaps, 
the  family  for  certain.  Hence,  you  must  meditate  here,  preach, 
read,  write,  pray,  sing,  talk,  drink,  eat  and  sleep,  or  flee  to  the 
woods." 

On  Sunday,  at  Pope's,  the  congregation  was  not  far  from  a 
thousand  people.  The  Bishop  preached ;  Hope  Hull  and  Stith 
Mead  exhorted.  Then  they  rode  to  General  John  Stewart's,  and 
by  Liberty  Chapel  to  Rehoboth,  in  Warren.  There  was  a  great 
meeting  at  Heath's.  The  love-feast  began  at  nine  and  continued 
till  three  o'clock.  Eight  souls  were  converted  that  day.  The 
Bishop  preached  in  the  woods,  but  was  interrupted  by  the  singing 
and  shouting.  1 1  He  now  came  to  Sparta  for  the  first  time.  Han- 
cock County,  of  which  Sparta  is  the  county  site,  was  laid  out  in 
1793.  Sparta  was,  therefore,  a  frontier  village  not  ten  years 
old  when  this  visit  was  made. 

Quite  a  number  of  Virginians  from  Dinwiddie  County,  several 
of  them   followers  of  Devereux  Jarratt,  an  Episcopal  minister 


*Oampbell 's  Baptists.     tSprague's  Annals,     {Asbury 's  Journal.     ||  Journal. 


68  History  of 

and  the  early  friend  of  the  Methodists,  were  settled  here. 
Among  them  was  that  good  man,  John  Lucas,  who  was  for  so 
long  a  time  the  pillar  of  the  Church  in  that  section.  Asbury 
preached  in  the  village,  probably  at  the  Court  House,  as  there 
was  no  church  there  at  this  time.  This  is  the  first  mention  we 
have  of  Sparta.  The  first  preaching  done  in  the  village  was  prob- 
ably by  the  preachers  on  the  Richmond  Circuit,  and  the  first  time 
it  was  made  regularly  an  appointment  was  probably  when  George 
Dougherty  came  to  the  Oconee  Circuit  in  1799;  but  before  Sparta 
was  settled  there  were  several  appointments  in  Hancock  and  some 
in  Washington,  in  which  county  a  part  of  the  present  Hancock 
was  included.  Asbury  left  Sparta  and  rode  into  Washington 
County  and  through  Jefferson,  preaching  in  Louisville,  then  the 
capital  of  the  State,  and  by  Coxe's  Meeting  house  in  Burke,  back 
to  Augusta.  This  Coxe's  Meeting  house  was  probably  the  pres- 
ent Mt.  Zion,  in  the  northern  part  of  Burke  County.  He  thus 
made  an  extensive  tour ;  important  results  followed  it. 

In  two  weeks  after  they  left  Georgia,  conference  session  be- 
gan in  Camden.  This  was  on  January  1,  1802.  The  tour  they 
had  just  ended  had  prepared  them  for  a  judicious  arrangement 
of  the  work.  It  was  entirely  reorganized.  The  circuits  took  the 
names  of  the  rivers  which  flow  through  them,  and  we  are  at  some 
trouble  to  locate  their  boundaries.  The  Broad  River  and  Little 
River  Circuits  occupy  the  territory  formerly  included  in  the 
Washington  Circuit.  The  Broad  River,  which  runs  through  the 
lower  part  of  Elbert,  gave  the  name  to  the  circuit  which  included 
the  upper  part  of  Wilkes,  Oglethorpe,  Madison,  Franklin  and 
Hart  Circuits ;  the  Little  River,  the  lower  part  of  Wilkes,  Lin- 
coln, Taliaferro,  and  Columbia ;  the  Apalachee,  a  part  of  Ogle- 
thorpe, Greene,  Clarke,  and  a  part  of  Warren ;  the  Ogeechee,  the 
old  Burke  and  Richmond  Circuits ;  and  the  Oconee,  Hancock, 
Washington,  and  a  part  of  Warren.  We  have  been  thus  partic- 
ular, for  no  true  idea  of  the  labors,  successes,  and  failures  of  the 
preachers  can  be  gathered  without  a  study  of  the  geography  of 
the  State  in  those  times.  Augusta  continues  a  station.  The 
conference,  after  a  session  of  great  peace,  adjourned,  having 
paid  each  preacher  his  stipend  of  $80  per  year.  Stith  Mead  was 
again  on  the  Georgia  District,  and  Isaac  Cook  was  placed  on 
Apalachee  Circuit.  Samuel  Cowles  was  on  the  Oconee,  John 
Campbell  goes  to  St.  Mary's,  and  J.  H.  Mellard  to  the  Ogeechee. 
Josias  Randle  had  now  re-entered  the  work,  and  with  Britton 
Capel  was  on  Little  River,  and  Milligan  and  Russell  were  on 
Broad  River.    The  work  was  ably  manned,  and  with  the  stirring, 


Georgia  Methodism.  69 

soul-fired  Mead  at  their  head,  the  preachers  had  a  glorious  fu- 
ture before  them. 

James  H.  Mellard,  who  was  this  year  on  the  Ogeechee  Circuit, 
was  in  the  second  year  of  his  ministry.  He  was  a  little  man, 
thin  and  pale,  but  very  wiry  and  full  of  pluck  and  energy.  He 
traveled  the  Union  Circuit  the  year  before  this,  and  was  now 
sent  to  the  Ogeechee  Circuit.  After  this  he  was  sent  to  George- 
town, S.  C.  Finding  the  people  would  not  go  to  church,  he  went 
to  the  market  house  to  preach.  The  mob  brought  down  a  drum, 
and  tried  to  keep  him  from  being  heard ;  but  he  preached  more 
earnestly.  They  threatened  to  drown  him,  but  the  intrepid  little 
preacher  kept  on.*  That  year  there  was  a  great  revival  in  George- 
town. He  traveled  till  1810,  when  he  located.  He  removed  from 
South  Carolina,  in  the  early  settlement  of  Alabama,  to  that  State, 
where  he  died.f  He  preserved  a  pure  character  to  the  end,  and 
his  zeal  for  the  Church  knew  no  abatement.  As  a  traveling 
preacher,  the  only  charge  made  against  him  was  that  he  would 
not  turn  people  out  of  the  Church. 

This  was  a  year  of  great  revival.  Beginning  in  Kentucky  in 
1799,  there  was  a  work  of  grace,  the  most  wonderful  America 
had  ever  seen,  which  swept  over  the  whole  land.  Camp  meetings 
grew  out  of  it,  and  they  advanced  it.  Cook,  McGee,  McKen- 
dree,  in  the  West ;  Jesse  Lee,  Douglas,  Ballew,  in  Virginia ;  Stith 
Mead.  Hope  Hull,  Randle,  Blanton,  in  Georgia ;  Tarpley,  Dough- 
erty, Myers,  James  Jenkins,  in  South  Carolina — constituted  a 
corps  of  evangelists  such  as  are  not  often  met  with.  It  was  not  a 
swollen  summer  torrent  which  exhausted  itself  in  an  hour,  but  a 
steady  stream  of  blessings  for  years.  The  church  was  vitalized 
in  all  its  parts.  It  never  increased  more  rapidly  in  numbers  and 
in  spiritual  power.  From  1800  to  1812  the  revival  fire  blazed. 
There  was  constant  effort  to  save  souls,  there  was  intense  spiritual 
interest,  and  there  were  those  strange  phenomena  which  have  al- 
ways attended  great  religious  excitements.  Men  and  women 
fell  senseless  under  the  weight  of  their  emotions.  The  excited 
soul  deprived  the  mind  of  all  control  over  the  body,  and  there  were 
jerking  exercises,  barking,  dancing,  and  many  other  physical  ex- 
travagances. The  timid  were  alarmed  at  this.  The  more  thought- 
ful deplored  its  wildness,  while  the  more  superstitious  confounded 
these  mere  physical  manifestations  of  excited  feeling  with  religion 
itself.  The  Christian  philosopher  has  neither  to  lay  aside  his  com- 
mon sense,  his  philosophy,  nor  his  faith,  to  account  for  all  this. 
It  was  neither  directly  of  God  or  of  the  devil.    These  phenomena 


*Moo<l.     t Deem  's  Annals. 


70  History  of 

were  the  natural  results  of  an  intensity  of  feeling,  rational  enough 
in  its  origin,  and  legitimate  in  every  way,  but  which  a  clear,  cool 
reason  did  not,  and  perhaps  could  not,  properly  direct.  Man  and 
woman  alike,  infidel  and  Christian  alike,  were  subject  to  these 
nervous  excitements ;  but  only  when  a  true  penitence  and  a  living 
faith  was  at  the  base  were  the  effects  of  this  intense  excitement 
good  and  abiding.  Dr.  Pierce  gives,  in  the  Advocate  of  1874, 
an  account  of  these  remarkable  manifestations  of  feeling,  such  as 
had  not  been  seen  before  in  American  Methodism,  and  such  as 
were  not  seen  afterwards.  David  Brainerd  had  somewhat  the 
same  experience  among  the  Indians,  Whitefield  and  Wesley 
among  the  colliers,  and  Whitefield  and  his  Presbyterian  friends 
in  Cambuslang  among  the  Scotch. 

Mead  was  in  his  glory  in  a  great  revival,  and  he  swept  like  a 
conqueror  from  one  part  of  his  large  district  to  another.  Out  of 
this  revival  sprang  the  camp-meetings  in  Georgia ;  the  first  of 
which  we  have  account  in  the  State  was  in  Oglethorpe  County. 
There  were  neither  tents  to  dwell  in,  nor  a  roof  to  shelter  the 
worshipper.  A  grove  and  a  spring  were  chosen,  and  a  stand  for 
the  preachers  was  built.  Logs  were  cut  for  seats,  and  the  people 
in  wagons  and  carts  flocked  to  the  meeting,  sometimes  going 
seventy-five  miles  to  it.  At  the  camp-meeting  in  Oglethorpe, 
Hope  Hull  and  Benj.  Blanton,  besides  the  itinerants,  were  pres- 
ent. Among  those  converted  at  that  meeting  was  Major  Floyd 
father  of  Judge  Jno.  J.  Floyd  and  of  Stewart  Floyd,  Esq.,  for- 
merly of  Madison. 

The  next  year,  1803,  there  was  a  camp-meeting  on  Shoulder- 
bone,  not  far  from  Sparta;  at  this  meeting  there  were  176  tents, 
and  Dow  supposed  there  were  3,000  people  on  the  ground.*  From 
1802,  for  nearly  forty  years  these  meetings  increased,  until  at 
last  the  Georgia  Conference,  about  1838,  advised  against  their 
multiplication.  The  Old  Liberty,  Hastings,  White  Oak,  Rich- 
mond, and  Sparta  camp-grounds  have  been  the  scenes  of  great 
battles  and  of  great  victories. 

Lorenzo  Dow,  after  having  consented  to  take  a  circuit  in  New 
England,  was  impressed  that  he  ought  to  come  to  Georgia,  and 
as  his  lungs  were  weak  and  his  head  hard,  he  decided  against  the 
advice  of  his  friends  that  he  would  come,  and  took  passage  for 
Savannah.  He  reached  that  city  early  in  1802.  He  found  no 
Methodist  church  there,  but  a  Mr.  Cloud,  one  of  the  Hammettites, 
as  the  followers  of  Mr.  Hammett  were  called,  had  a  place  to 
preach  in,  and  about  seventy  hearers.    He  preached  for  him,  and 

*Dow  's  Journal. 


Georgia  Methodism.  71 

for  Andrew  Marshall,  the  old  colored  Baptist  preacher.  He 
then  left  Savannah  and  traveled  to  Augusta ;  of  his  stay  the  reader 
is  referred  to  the  account  of  Methodism  in  Augusta.  One  morn- 
ing, being  impressed  that  he  ought  to  leave  Augusta  for  Wash- 
ington, where  Hope  Hull  was,  he  set  out  before  daylight.  He  had 
been  converted  under  Hull's  preaching,  in  New  England,  and 
regarded  him  with  great  affection.  He  found  him  at  his  corn 
crib,  and  saluted  him  with  "How  are  you,  father?"  The  father 
was  not  enraptured  at  seeing  one  whose  strange  impressions  had 
led  him  to  go  on  foot  through  England,  Wales,  and  Ireland,  and 
now  to  come  to  Georgia ;  but  he  treated  him  very  kindly,  and  gave 
him  some  sound  advice  about  discarding  these  impressions  and 
sticking  to  his  work.  Dow  heard  him  calmly,  and  soon  after, 
while  Hull  was  sending  an  appointment  for  him  to  the  village,  he 
dashed  away  on  foot  and  reached  it  first,  scattered  his  tracts,  and 
was  ready  to  preach  before  the  messenger  came*  There  was 
much  about  his  aspect  and  manner  to  arouse  attention  even  at 
this  time,  though  he  grew  much  more  eccentric  in  after-life.  Eli- 
sha  Perryman,  a  Baptist  preacher,  heard  him  on  one  of  his  visits, 
and  thus  describes  his  appearance  :  "He  wore  an  old  half  red  over- 
coat, with  an  Indian  belt  around  his  waist.  He  did  not  wear  a 
hat,  but  had  his  head  tied  up  with  a  handkerchief.  Coming  into 
the  house,  he  sat  down  by  the  fireplace  for  a  few  minutes,  and 
then  all  of  a  sudden  jumped  up,  and  cried  out:  'What  will  this 
babbler  say?  Those  that  have  turned  the  world  upside  down  are 
come  hither  also.'  "  This  was  his  text,  and  his  talk  was  much 
every  way,  for  it  appeared  to  me  to  run  from  Britain  to  Japan, 
and  from  the  torrid  to  the  frigid  zone.f  Yet  this  strange  man 
was  a  man  of  no  common  intellect,  and  preached  with  real  power. 
He  was  a  great  polemic.  He  had  been  brought  up  in  New  Eng- 
land, among  the  Calvinists,  and  as  they  were  the  only  errorists, 
for  so  he  regarded  them,  who  had  been  much  in  his  way,  he 
never  preached  a  sermon  without  attacking  their  views.  He  called 
them  ALL  part  people.  To  relieve  the  church  in  Augusta  from 
debt.J  he  published  his  chain,  which  is  mainly  directed  against 
the  Calvinists.  It  is  a  fine  piece  of  homely  reasoning,  and  evinces 
real  power  in  argument. 

His  habits  were  wildly  eccentric.  During  this  visit  he  came  to  a 
house  just  in  time  to  escape  a  heavy  storm.  In  the  night,  he 
says,  "I  felt  uneasy,  and  my  heart  felt  turned  upon  the  road." 
So  he  declared  he  must  go,  nor  could  any  dissuasion  keep  him 
from  doing  so.     Night  as  it  was,  raining  as  it  had  been,  go  he 

*Dow's  Journal.      tLife   of  Perryman.     }  Journal. 


72  History  of 

must,  and  go  he  did.  His  kind  friend  accompanied  him  till  day- 
break and  then  returned.  He  visited  some  of  the  appointments 
in  Oglethorpe,  and  held  a  meeting  at  Pope's  Chapel,  Tigner's,  etc. 
He  returned  to  Augusta.* 

On  this  tour  Dow  preached  at  Tigner's,  then  in  Oglethorpe,, 
now  in  Clarke  County.  The  founder  of  this  church  came  out 
from  Virginia  early  after  the  Revolution  and  came  to  the  fron- 
tier. When  settlers  began  to  flock  to  the  wilds  his  heart  was 
stirred  within  him,  and  before  a  preacher  had  entered  the  settle- 
ment he  held  meetings  and  organized  a  society.  From  this  so- 
ciety sprang  Tigners  Church,  and  from  this  good  man  has  de- 
scended a  large  number  of  Methodists  and  several  Methodist 
preachers. 

Dow  often  visited  Georgia  after  this,  and  went  to  the  Natchez 
Country,  on  the  Mississippi,  as  early  as  1803.  His  appointments 
were  given  out  from  twelve  months  to  two  years  ahead,  and  he 
always  filled  them.  Adopting  as  a  rule  in  the  beginning  of  this 
history  that  we  should  not  introduce  any  anecdote,  however 
piquant,  we  were  not  assured  was  authentic,  we  do  not  feel  at 
liberty  to  enliven  our  pages  with  many  of  those  incidents  of  Dow 
which  are  handed  from  mouth  to  mouth.  He  went  to  Louisville 
and  met  Dr.  Coke.  The  last  time  the  doctor  had  seen  him  was 
in  Dublin,  Ireland.  He  said  to  him:  "Brother  Dow,  the  warn- 
ing you  gave  to  the  people  of  Dublin  had  like  to  have  proved 
true."  The  Governor  of  the  State  gave  Dow  a  testimonial.  The 
conference  talked  over  his  case,  and  it  was  decided  to  encourage 
him.*  Afterwards  his  eccentricities  brought  him  into  disrepute 
with  the  brethren,  and  he  traveled  as  a  cosmopolite,  preaching 
the  doctrines  of  the  Methodists  and  leaving  those  converted  to 
choose  their  church  connections  for  themselves.  His  visit  to 
Georgia  during  this  year  1802  had  been  of  real  service  to  the 
cause  of  Christ.  At  the  Conference  of  1803  the  result  of  the 
year's  work  was  reported.  The  number  had  largely  increased, 
over  1,300  new  members  had  been  added  during  the  year. 

The  conference  met  at  Camden  again  the  6th  of  January,  1803. 
It  remained  in  session  only  three  days.  Stith  Mead  was  again 
Presiding  Elder  of  the  Georgia  District,  and  the  old  corps  of 
preachers  this  year,  for  the  first  time  in  Georgia,  is  Lewis  Myers. 
This  was  his  fourth  year  in  the  ministry. 

Lewis  Myers  was  a  full-blooded  German  by  descent,  and  he 
never  lost  his  German  accent,  though  he  was  an  American  by 
birth,  and  wrote  English  like  an  Englishman.    He  was  as  decided 

*Dow  's  Journal. 


Georgia  Methodism.  7  3 

and  as  conscientious  as  a  German  could  be,  and  that  is  saying  a 
great  deal.  He  had  decided  to  be  a  Christian,  and  he  was  one 
to  the  end,  and  he  had  determined  to  be  an  itinerant  preacher, 
and  so  he  was  to  the  end.  Strong  himself,  he  had  but  little  sym- 
pathy for  the  weak  or  vacillating.  His  remarkable  common  sense 
made  him  a  leader  on  the  conference  floor,  and  with  W.  M.  Ken- 
nedy he  shared  the  full  confidence  of  his  brethren  when  judgment 
was  demanded.  He  traveled  all  kinds  of  work,  and  always 
did  well  what  he  did  at  all.  He  worked  for  twenty-eight  years — 
one  of  the  hardest  workers  the  church  has  ever  had  in  it.  He 
traveled  in  South  Carolina,  North  Carolina,  and  Georgia.  He 
believed  in  Methodism,  in  the  Methodism  of  his  earliest  love. 
He  fought  against  everything  opposed  to  it.  Drunkenness,  cock- 
fighting,  duelling,  were  not  less  objects  of  attack  than  the  theatre, 
the  public  show,  the  powdered  head,  or  the  frills  and  ruffles  of 
the  young  ladies ;  and  none  ever  escaped  him.  When  he  was 
presiding  elder  on  the  Oconee  District,  a  Methodist  preacher, 
whom  he  designates  as  B.  C,  went  to  a  scientific  show,  as  it  was 
called,  in  Sparta,  where  there  were  puppets  dancing.  The  delin- 
quent had  not  begun  his  breakfast  the  next  morning,  and  was  at 
family  prayers,  when  Brother  Myers  came  to  bring  him  to  ac- 
count. The  preacher,  according  to  Myers'  journal,  evidenced  the 
awful  depravity  of  the  human  heart  by  defending  his  course. 

Mr.  Monroe,  then  President  of  the  United  States,  on  a  visit 
to  Charleston,  went  to  the  theatre.  Lewis  Myers  addressed  him 
a  letter  from  the  Methodist  parsonage,  calling  his  attention  to 
the  sad  example  he  was  giving  to  the  people.*  On  the  confer- 
ence floor  he  was  the  censor.  A  young  preacher,  who  had  fallen 
captive  to  beauty  and  who  had  married,  was  sure  to  have  Father 
Myers  after  him  at  conference.  "A  young  brudder,"  he  said  in 
a  speech,  "comes  to  us  and  wishes  to  breach.  We  dell  him  we 
will  dry  him  a  year.  He  goes  out  and  does  bretty  well ;  we  dell 
him  we  will  dry  him  again.  Then  he  gomes  to  us  and  says, 
bredren,  I  must  get  married.  We  say,  no,  brudder,  go  breach ; 
but  he  says,  I  must  get  married,  and  marry  he  does ;  it  is  sight 
enough  to  make  angels  weep." 

He  had  quite  a  spice  of  humor  with  all  his  sternness,  and  his 
odd  speeches  called  out  a  smile  from  the  most  serious  congre- 
gation. 

He  came  once  to  a  church  in  Greene  county,  and  after  Satur- 
day's preaching  requested  the  people  to  stay  to  class,  but  instead 
of  holding  a  class  he  gave  them  a  talk  to  this  effect :     "Bredren, 

*Myers'  Journal  in  South  Carolina  Advocate. 


74  History  of 

I  dinks  some  dings  might  be  mended  here.  The  clab-poards  on 
the  house  are  loose — you  might  nail  them  on  and  keep  the  rain 
out;  the  weder-boarding  is  ripped  off — you  might  put  dem  back. 
The  men  bite  tobacco  and  spit  on  the  floor — a  very  bad  habit, 
bredren;  and  altogedder  things  look  shockling  about  here."*  By 
this  time  the  congregation  were  tittering,  and  Wm.  H.  C.  Cone, 
then  a  young  man,  was  so  overcome  by  the  old  man's  way  that 
he  had  bent  his  head  on  the  bench  to  conceal  his  merriment. 
"And  you,  young  man,  who  has  your  head  down  on  de  bench, 
you  will  pray  for  us."  The  prayer,  we  may  judge,  was  short. 
He  was  a  rigid  disciplinarian,  and  kept  things  up  to  the  line 
wherever  he  went.  Although  he  lived  for  many  years  after  he 
went  to  Effingham  in  comparative  retirement,  the  Church  never 
had  a  firmer  friend;  and  few  who  marked  his  close  economy 
dreamed  that  the  old  Dutchman  who  worked  so  hard,  traded  so 
closely,  and  lived  so  economically,  was  saving  for  the  Church ; 
and  it  was  only  when  his  will  was  opened  that  it  was  seen  that 
the  widows,  the  orphans,  and  the  friendless  were  the  objects 
for  whose  welfare  he  was  toiling  so  hard.  Old  Father  Myers 
was  indeed  a  peculiar  man,  but  not  many  have  lived  who  had  a 
stronger  head  and  a  nobler  heart.  He  was  sent  this  year  with 
Josias  Randle  on  the  Little  River  Circuit.  Samuel  Ansley  was 
on  the  Oconee  Circuit.  He  was  a  man  of  moderate  gifts,  but 
of  deep  piety,  who,  after  traveling  several  years,  located  and 
then  re-entered  the  work,  and  died  a  superannuated  preacher  in 
the  Georgia  Conference,  after  having  preached  for  over  fifty 
years. 

There  was  again  large  increase  in  the  membership.  This  year 
nearly  4,300  were  reported  in  the  society.  From  every  quarter 
came  up  the  same  precious  tidings.  The  Baptists  and  Presbyteri- 
ans shared  in  these  blessings.  There  were  no  other  Christian 
bodies  in  this  new  State. 

As  the  South  Carolina  Conference  was  to  meet  this  year  in 
Augusta,  and  as  Asbury  was  to  preside,  he  came  early  in  De- 
cember. He  preached  in  Augusta,  visited  Thomas  Haynes,  Gar- 
trell,  and  Thomas  Grant ;  after  preaching  at  White  Oak,  he  rode 
home  with  Capt.  Few,  whose  eldest  son  was  serious.  This  then 
was  the  time  of  the  first  serious  impressions  of  that  gifted  man, 
Col.  Ignatius  Few,  who,  after  having  been  lost  in  the  wilds  of 
infidelity,  came  to  Christ  in  1827,  nearly  twenty-five  years  after 
the  time  the  good  Bishop  rode  home  to  talk  with  him  and  pray 
for  him.     He  passed  rapidly  through  Richmond,  Columbia,  Lin- 

*From  W.  I.  Parks. 


Georgia  Methodism.  75 

coin,  Elbert,  Wilkes,  Warren,  and  Hancock  Counties.  Although 
Asbury  was  near  sixty  years  old,  feeble  and  worn,  yet  he  rode 
through  all  weathers,  and  preached  every  day.  He  came  to 
Sparta  a  second  time.  They  had  a  race  course,  but  no  church, 
so  he  was  forced  to  preach  at  Lucas  dwelling,  where  he  had  a 
full  house;  passing  down  into  Washington  county,  he  made  a 
journey  through  it  to  Louisville;  here  he  was  entertained  by  a 
Mr.  Flournoy,  a  new  convert,  whose  wife,  he  says,  was  one  of 
the  respectables;  and  then  on  to  Augusta.  Flournoy  was  a  fa- 
mous man,  a  man  of  violent  passions,  whose  religious  life  did 
not  continue  long.  He  had  married  a  member  of  the  great  Cobb 
family,  whose  saintliness  of  life  would  have  made  a  beautiful 
story  for  the  early  age.  She,  amid  many  trials,  lived  the  most 
consecrated  life  and  died  a  most  triumphant  death.  She  was 
the  grandmother  of  the  Rev.  H.  J.  Adams,  of  the  North  Georgia 
Conference. 

The  conference  met  January  4,  1804.  Dr.  Coke  was  present 
with  Asbury.  Lovick  Pierce  was  there — a  boy  from  Barnwell, 
S.  C,  but  even  then  a  warm-hearted  Methodist. 

It  met  at  the  house  of  Peter  Cantalou,  on  Ellis  street.*  The 
boundaries  of  Georgia  are  again  changed,  and  the  frontier-line 
moved  farther  back,  calling  for  changes  in  the  arrangement  of 
the  work.  The  student  of  church  history,  to  clearly  understand 
the  work,  must  make  himself  acquainted  with  the  physical  and 
political  changes  which  passed  over  the  State.  The  settlements 
in  Georgia  were  made  in  a  somewhat  peculiar  way,  and  one  part 
of  the  State  was  comparatively  old  before  another  was  settled. 
The  first  settlements  were  from  the  ocean  to  the  Altamaha  and 
Ogeechee.  Then,  in  1773,  Sir  James  Wright  bought  from  the  In- 
dians the  country  between  the  Ogeechee  and  the  Oconee.  Here, 
for  over  thirty  years,  was  the  boundary  of  the  State.  In  1802 
a  treaty  was  made  for  the  lands  from  the  Oconee  to  the  Apa- 
lachee,  and  now,  in  1804,  the  country  lying  between  the  Oconee 
and  the  Ocmulgee  was  purchased.  Georgia  had  until  1837  al- 
ways a  frontier,  and  in  the  new  purchase  there  was  the  features 
of  a  fresh  settlement.  The  log-cabins  of  the  older  sections  were 
now  only  removed  from  Wilkes,  Warren,  and  Hancock,  to  the 
new  counties  of  Jasper,  Jones,  and  Morgan.  Since  the  year  1793, 
when  the  feeble  Georgie  Conference  was  merged  into  the  South 
Carolina,  almost  eleven  years  had  gone.  A  great  change  had 
passed  over  the  whole  country — a  change  resulting  from  the  in- 
vention of  the  cotton-gin.     Previous  to  its  invention,  there  was 

*  Asbury 's  Journal. 


76  History  of 

little  hope  of  making  fortunes  in  Georgia.  The  rice-planters  on 
the  coast  of  the  Carolinas  and  of  Georgia,  and  the  few  indigo- 
planters  who  were  left,  made  something  for  export ;  but,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  hogsheads  of  tobacco  made  on  the  fresh 
lands  and  shipped  to  Europe,  there  was  nothing  made  in  Geor- 
gia that  was  not  for  home  use.  Corn,  wheat,  cattle,  pork,  there 
was  in  great  abundance ;  but  these  could  not  be  transported,  and 
if  sold  made  but  a  poor  return;  a  little  cotton  was  made  for 
home  consumption.  The  lint  was  separated  from  the  seed  by 
the  busy  fingers  of  the  family ;  but  now  Eli  Whitney  and  Nathan 
Lyon  about  the  same  time  brought  out  the  machines  so  much 
needed.  The  lands  were  fresh ;  the  shipowners  of  New  England 
States,  about  to  lose  the  profitable  slave  trade,  were  hurrying 
cargoes  of  Africans  to  Savannah  and  Charleston.  The  result  of 
this  was  large  immigration,  and  the  rapid  opening  of  large  plan- 
tations. Good  schools  sprang  up  all  over  the  older  sections  of 
the  State. 

The  habits  of  the  rough  pioneers  were  becoming  gradually 
more  gentle.  When  Methodism  began  her  work,  there  were  not 
five  hundred  Christian  people  in  the  State ;  now  there  were  nearly 
5,000  in  the  Methodist  Church  alone. 

The  people  were,  many  of  them,  still  rude  and  uncultivated. 
Judge  Longstreet,  in  his  "Georgia  Scenes,"  Gov.  Gilmer,  in  his 
"Georgians,"  and  Judge  Andrews  do  not  present  an  exaggerated 
picture  of  those  times.  Asbury  says  of  the  state  of  things  in 
1803  that  the  great  hindrance  to  the  work  of  God  in  Georgia 
was  Sabbath  markets,  rum,  races,  and  rioting.  "In  those  days," 
says  Elisha  Perryman,  an  old  Baptist,  "almost  everybody  was 
in  the  habit  of  drinking;  young  and  old,  rich  and  poor.  Christian 
and  sinner,  all  would  drink,  and  many  of  them  get  drunk  into 
the  bargain."  The  Methodist  Church  now  covered  the  whole 
State.  In  its  short  history  up  to  this  time  there  had  been  two 
great  revivals  and  one  period  of  deep  depression. 

New  territory  is  now  to  be  opened.  New  fields  are  to  be  laid 
out,  and  the  same  battle  with  the  hardships  of  the  first  days  of 
a  country  is  to  be  fought  over  again. 

The  conference  concluded  its  session  without  anything  of  spe- 
cial interest,  and  Mead  again  took  charge  of  his  corps  of  evange- 
lists, and  went  forth  to  his  soul-cheering  work. 

They  were  an  earnest,  gifted  body  of  men,  and  the  field  was 
white  to  the  harvest.  The  revival  influence  still  continued,  and 
there  were  over  600  additional  members  reported  to  the  next 
conference.     Mead,  having  done  most  excellent  work,  was  now 


Georgia  Methodism.  77 

spending  his  last  year  in  Georgia,  but  he  was  training  a  body  of 
young  men,  who  were  to  do  the  work  he  had  begun,  after  he 
had  left  them.  We  have  no  other  particulars  than  those  which 
the  minutes  give,  and  a  darkness  as  deep  and  as  deplorable  rests 
over  the  history  of  other  churches.  Jesse  Mercer  was  in  his 
strength.  The  sons  of  Daniel  Marshall  were  still  at  work,  and 
Cummings  and  Dokes  were  doing  good  service  for  the  Presbyteri- 
ans ;  but  while  this  we  know,  of  more  than  this  we  are  ignorant. 


CHAPTER  V. 
1805-1812. 

The  Conference  of  1805  met  at  Charleston,  January  1st,  Bishop 
Asbury  presiding. 

The  Bishop  preached  on  "Walk  in  wisdom  towards  them  which 
are  without."* 

We  had  a  practical  proof  of  the  value  of  the  injunction,  for 
he  was  forbidden  by  the  city  authorities  to  hold  prayer-meetings 
with  the  blacks  before  sunrise,  and  to  continue  services  later 
than  9  o'clock  at  night.  This  was  an  order  tyrannical  enough, 
and  inexcusable  enough,  but  one  which  had  resulted  from  the 
course  of  the  General  Conference  with  reference  to  slavery. 

The  Georgia  work  was  now  divided  into  two  districts.  The 
new  territory  was  placed  in  the  Oconee,  and  Samuel  Cowles  was 
made  presiding  elder ;  the  older  territory  in  the  Ogeechee,  and 
Josias  Randle  was  placed  in  charge.  The  Oconee  District  ex- 
tended westward  from  the  Ogeechee  to  the  Indian  Nation,  the 
Ogeechee  from  the  Savannah  to  the  Ogeechee  River. 

At  this  conference,  Reddick  and  Lovick  Pierce  were  admitted 
on  trial ;  Reddick  was  twenty-two,  and  Lovick  not  quite  twenty 
years  old. 

Reddick  was  sent  as  junior  preacher  on  the  Little  River  Cir- 
cuit, Georgia ;  Lovick  on  the  Great  Pedee,  in  South  Carolina. 

There  was  a  striking  contrast  between  the  two  brothers.  Red- 
dick was  vigorous  in  body  as  well  as  vigorous  in  mind.  He  was 
strong,  brave,  daring.  He  rather  enjoyed  than  recoiled  from 
perils.  In  boyhood,  his  brother  says,  he  delighted  in  tales  of 
Indian  wars  and  weird  stories  of  ghostly  appearances. 

He  cared  little  for  refinement  of  culture,  never  aimed  at  polish, 
nor  sought  for  elegance  of  manner  or  speech.  He  sought  only 
for  strong,  clear  arguments,  for  burning  words,  and  for  unction 
of  soul.  Lovick  was,  on  the  contrary,  gentle  as  a  woman,  shrink- 
ing, sensitive,  and  timid.  His  desire  for  culture  of  the  highest 
kind  was  intense,  and  his  taste  was  for  all  the  refinements  of 
life.  Reddick  would  have  made  a  noble  worker  in  granite,  but 
Lovick  would  have  been  Michael  Angelo,  and  worked  only  in 
marble.  Reddick  was  a  great  man,  but  his  greatness  was  to  be 
known  only  by  a  few ;  Lovick  was  destined  to  a  renown  as  wide 
as  the  domain  of  Methodism.    The  two  brothers  had  possessed  no 

•Journal. 


Georgia  Methodism.  79 

literary  advantages  in  the  backwoods  in  which  they  were  born; 
but,  full  of  lofty  heroism  and  a  sublime  determination  to  work 
for  Jesus,  they  come  now  to  the  conference  for  their  first  ap- 
pointments. They  were  born  in  Halifax  county,  in  North  Caro- 
lina, but  were  brought  up  in  Barnwell  District,  S.  C.  Under  the 
preaching  of  James  Jenkins,  they  were  at  the  same  time  awaken- 
ed, and  when  Thomas  Darley,  the  year  afterwards,  was  preacher 
in  charge  of  that  circuit,  they  joined  the  society.  Reddick  was 
sent  to  Little  River  this  year,  and  the  next  to  the  Sparta  Circuit. 
In  1807,  he  followed  his  younger  brother  on  the  Augusta  station, 
and  was  then  sent  to  Columbia,  S.  C.  Columbia  was  at  that  time 
a  small,  but  an  important  town;  it  was  the  capital  of  the  State, 
and  the  State  University  was  there.  The  Methodists  had  a  small 
chapel,  and  were  few  and  humble.  They  afforded  fine  sport  for 
the  mischievous  young  bloods  who  were  in  the  college  there,  and 
they  made  full  use  of  their  opportunities  for  mischief.  After 
annoying  the  congregation  in  every  way  they  could  think  of,  one 
night  they  turned  a  live  goose  into  the  church,  while  the  congre- 
gation were  at  prayer.  Young  Pierce  reported  the  culprits  to  the 
chancellor.  This  officer  calmly  heard  him,  and  promised  that  he 
should  have  a  hearing  before  the  faculty,  and  should  have  an  op- 
portunity to  prove  his  case.  The  young  men  sent  him  a  note  that 
it  would  be  at  the  peril  of  his  life  if  he  should  appear  at  the 
campus  on  the  day  fixed  for  trial ;  but  on  that  day  the  intrepid 
young  preacher  was  there.  He  stated  his  case.  The  young  man 
selected  by  his  companions  as  their  champion  made  a  brave  speech 
against  Pope  Pierce,  as  he  called  him,  but  the  trustees  and  faculty 
ended  the  matter  by  notifying  the  students  that  any  future  moles- 
tation of  the  Methodists  should  be  followed  by  prompt  expulsion 
from  college ;  and  the  worshippers  were  no  more  disturbed. 

Reddick  Pierce  was  a  man  of  great  power  in  the  pulpit.  Dr. 
Lovick  Pierce  says  he  had  known  scores  to  fall  senseless  as  Red- 
dick preached.  One  day  he  went  to  a  Baptist  church.  An  op- 
portunity to  join  the  Church  was  given,  and  one  and  other  told 
an  experience.  The  preacher  then  invited  any  brother  who  de- 
sired to  do  so  to  speak.  Reddick  rose,  told  his  own  heart's 
story,  and  began  to  exhort.  The  result  was  as  usual :  when  he 
exhorted,  many  fell,  overwhelmed  by  their  emotions. 

He  was  especially  strong  in  the  Calvinistic  controversy  of  those 
days,  and  to  the  last  scarcely  ever  reached  a  sermon  without 
dealing  some  hard  blows  at  that  system  of  theology.    The  present 

*From  persona]  conversation  with  Eeddick  Pierce. 


80  History  of 

generation,  when  there  is  so  little  of  the  hyper-Calvinism  of 
seventy  years  ago,  and  when  religious  controversy  is  at  such  dis- 
count, are  not  aware  of  the  intense  feelings  of  the  two  parties  at 
that  time,  and  of  the  constant  warfare  waged.  The  young  preach- 
ers studied  the  polemical  books  of  Wesley  and  Fletcher,  and 
each  felt  that  he  had  not  done  his  duty  unless  he  had  assailed 
what  he  believed  the  God-dishonoring  doctrine  of  an  uncondi- 
tional decree.  Young  Pierce  located  in  1812,  and  afterwards  re- 
turned to  the  work  in  1822,  and  in  it  he  died.  He  was  very  deaf 
early  in  his  life,  and  grew  so  perfectly  so  that  he  could  only  com- 
mune with  his  friends  by  the  aid  of  writing.  He  was  a  very 
fine  talker,  and  a  man  of  most  impressive  appearance.  His  old 
age,  when  not  visiting  his  children,  was  spent  under  the  roof  of 
his  friend,  Jacob  Strohman,  in  Barnwell,  S.  C. 

The  Bishop  visited  Georgia  this  year,  but  does  not  seem  to 
have  met  with  anything  of  special  interest,  as  he  makes  no  im- 
portant record  of  it  in  his  journal.  The  members  in  the  church 
are  about  the  same  as  in  the  year  before,  and  the  general  revival 
interest  had  somewhat  abated. 

The  conference  met  in  Charleston  in  January,  1806.  The  num- 
ber of  circuits  was  increased,  and  for  the  first  time  the  Sparta 
and  Milledgeville  Circuits  appear.  Divided  between  the  Apa- 
lachee,  the  Sparta  and  the  Milledgeville  Circuits  was  that  fine 
country  between  the  Oconee  and  the  Ocmulgee,  which  had  just 
been  opened  to  settlement.  It  comprised  large  and  fertile  sec- 
tions, and  was  rapidly  peopled.  Twiggs,  Jones,  Baldwin,  Mor- 
gan and  Jasper  counties  were  then  the  frontier  counties.  Samuel 
Cowles  and  Josias  Randle  were  the  presiding  elders. 

Joseph  Tarpley  was  on  the  Apalachee  Circuit.  This  was  his 
second  year  in  the  itinerancy.  He  was  a  man  of  fine  capacity,  and 
was  very  useful.  He  had  a  large  frame,  a  fine  face,  and  a  strong, 
clear  voice,  which  he  managed  with  great  skill.*  He  was  a  pious 
man  and  a  laborious  one.  After  years  of  active  labor  in  the 
ministry,  he  married  a  daughter  of  General  Stewart,  and  located. 
He  entered  into  mercantile  business,  but  was  unfortunate  in  it, 
and  lost  everything  except  his  religion. 

The  Sparta  Circuit  appears  for  the  first  time.  Although  there 
had  been  regular  preaching  in  the  county  of  Hancock  for  several 
years  preceding,  the  first  Methodist  church  building  in  Sparta 
was  erected  this  year.  This  supplied  the  people  of  the  village 
with  a  place  of  worship  until  1824,  when  a  larger  and  finer  church 

*  Travis. 


Georgia  Methodism.  81 

was  built.*  This  building  was  used  until  1909,  and  then  gave 
way  to  a  much  handsomer  one.  Philip  Turner  was  the  first  class- 
leader.  He  was  a  Maryland  Methodist,  and,  in  connection  with 
John  Lucas,  was  the  chief  support  of  the  church  there  in  the 
early  days. 

Lovick  Pierce  was  sent  to  the  new  Apalachee  Circuit  with 
Joseph  Tarpley.  This  circuit  included  Greene,  Clarke,  and  Jack- 
son. He  was  but  little  over  twenty  years  old,  and  was  timid  as 
a  fawn.  His  sensibilities  were  unsually  acute,  and  his  aspirations 
of  the  noblest  and  highest  kind.  He  had  an  exalted  idea  of  the 
responsibilities  and  of  the  lofty  demands  of  his  ministry,  and  a 
painful  sense  of  his  own  deficiencies.  His  circuit  threw  him  into 
the  presence  of  people  as  highly  cultivated  as  any  in  Georgia. 
Hope  Hull,  Gen.  Stewart,  Gen.  Meriwether,  Henry  Pope,  Henry 
Gilmer,  John  Crutchfield,  and  men  of  that  class  were  among  his 
hearers,  and  the  new  State  University  in  his  circuit.  He  had  been 
in  the  ministry  only  one  year.  He  had  to  preach  every  day,  and 
had  no  time  for  careful  study ;  but,  as  water  from  the  mountain- 
top  only  waits  its  time  to  seek  that  height  which  is  its  birthright, 
so,  with  such  a  mind  as  his,  circumstances  might  for  a  moment 
keep  it  depressed — but  only  for  a  moment ;  rise  it  must,  rise  it 
would.  He  was  a  born  preacher,  and  he  was  in  a  school  to  make 
one.  Cicero  says  in  his  "De  Oratore"  that  repeated  practice  is 
worth  more  to  an  orator  than  all  rules  of  art.  This  is  eminently 
true  of  the  pulpit,  and  he  had  to  preach  every  day.  To  be  thrown 
upon  one's  own  resources  has  made  many  a  man,  and  books  have 
spoiled  not  a  few  who  might  have  made  them  for  themselves, 
but  who  learned  to  depend  servilely  on  the  minds  of  others. 
Lovick  Pierce  had  few  books  but  the  Bible ;  but,  with  the  Bible 
and  with  a  rich  Christian  experience,  what  man  is  unfurnished. 
He  began  his  Georgia  ministry  this  year  a  plain,  untutored,  but 
highly  gifted  boy.  He  never  left  the  State  for  any  length  of 
time  afterwards.  A  few  appointments  he  had  outside  of  it,  but 
his  home  was  always  in  it,  save  for  one  year.  We  have  but  to 
introduce  him  now.  His  history  is  largely  our  history — our  his- 
tory his  history.  For  over  seventy  years  the  life  of  Georgia 
Methodism  and  of  Lovick  Pierce  move  on  together.  Two  genera- 
tions and  more  are  gone  since  he  came  to  Georgia  in  1806.  A 
few  old  men  may  remember,  when  they  were  children,  to  have 
heard  the  good  and  gifted  young  circuit-rider,  who  rode  the  Apa- 
lachee Circuit  with  Joseph  Tarpley,  preach  wonderful  sermons; 
but  they  are  few.     He  left  his  home  in  South  Carolina  to  travel 

*Dr.    Pendleton,    Sketrh. 


82  History  of 

a  circuit  which  led  him  to  the  very  wigwam  of  the  Indian,  and 
without  a  teacher,  to  secure  by  constant  diligence  that  knowledge 
for  which  he  had  such  craving  appetite.  Hope  Hull,  whose  criti- 
cism the  young  preacher  so  feared,  was  at  Hull's  Meeting-house 
to  hear  him,  and  as  from  beneath  his  great  overhanging  eye- 
brows, his  piercing  eye  fell  upon  Lovick  Pierce,  he  saw  a  man 
who  was  to  bless  the  Church,  and  he  took  him  to  his  home  and 
his  heart.  When  Hull  died,  twelve  years  after  this,  young  Dr. 
Pierce,  then  in  the  brightness  of  his  fame,  preached  the  funeral 
sermon  of  the  old  hero. 

Another  young  man  who  was  to  do  good  work  for  the  church, 
principally  in  Carolina,  came  this  year  to  Broad  River  Circuit. 
This  was  W.  M.  Kennedy,  the  father  of  Dr.  F.  M.  Kenndy,  editor 
of  the  Southern  Christian  Advocate.  He  was  short  and  stout, 
had  a  fine  eye  and  a  fine  complexion.  He  was  remarkable  for 
his  strong  common  sense  and  his  deep  piety.  Full  of  genial  humor 
and  buoyancy,  he  was  a  favorite  everywhere,  and  his  fine  judg- 
ment made  him  a  most  valuable  assistant  to  the  Bishop  as  a 
presiding  elder.  He  traveled  only  one  year  in  Georgia  at  this 
period,  and  with  exception  of  one  term  in  Augusta,  his  life  was 
spent  in  labor  in  North  and  South  Carolina,  and  to  these  States 
his  history  properly  belongs. 

The  faithful  Randle  is  placed  on  the  Oconee  District  again, 
and  Britton  Capel  on  the  Ogeechee.  Two  new  changes  are  made 
this  year:  the  Ohoopee  Circuit  and  the  Savannah  Station. 

To  the  west  of  Savannah,  lying  south  of  the  Central  Railway, 
is  an  immense  area  of  land,  which  is  known  as  the  Wire-Grass 
Country.  The  lands  were  not  thought  fertile,  and  for  long  years, 
being  off  all  lines  of  popular  travel,  were  little  visited.  A  stock- 
raising  country,  it  remained  thinly  settled  until  recently;  but  a 
century  ago  the  stock-raisers  in  the  wilds  lived  long  distances 
apart.  There  were  no  schools ;  there  were  no  churches.  At  this 
time  there  were  perhaps  three-fourths  of  the  people  who  had 
never  heard  a  sermon.  To  these  pioneer  settlements  lying  on  the 
Ohoopee,  the  Altamaha,  the  Ocmulgee,  and  the  Oconee  Rivers, 
including  a  dozen  counties,  and  equal  to  a  German  duchy  in  size, 
Angus  McDonald  was  sent  as  the  first  missionary.  The  preacher 
had  his  own  circuit  to  make  ;  he  had  before  him  a  prospect  gloomy 
enough  to  daunt  any  heart.  The  settlements  were  not,  as  they 
were  in  many  sections,  in  groups ;  but  there  were  single  houses, 
miles  distant  from  any  other.  The  paths  through  the  wire-grass 
were  only  discovered  by  the  blazes  on  the  trees.  The  houses 
were  simply  of  pine  logs,  with  the  roof,  by  no  means  water-tight, 


Founder 


IGNATIUS    FEW, 
, nd    First    President    of    Emory    College. 


Georgia  Methodism.  83 

of  clap-boards  weighted  down  with  poles.  The  people  had  no 
property  save  cows  and  sheep.  There  were  neither  wheat-fields, 
nor  flour-mills,  and  the  corn  was  either  made  into  hominy,  or 
ground  with  a  hand-mill  into  grits.  The  marriage-tie  was  dis- 
regarded; the  Sabbath  was  unknown.  This  is  a  true,  if  not  a 
flattering  picture  of  the  Wire-Grass  Country  a  century  ago,  when 
the  Methodists  began  their  work  in  it.  The  Primitive  Baptists 
have  a  stronghold  in  that  section  now,  and  probably  were  in  the 
country  then.  McDonald  does  not  seem  to  have  had  much  success 
there,  and  the  Ohoopee  was  dropped  from  the  list  of  circuits 
at  the  next  conference,  and  does  not  appear  again  for  several 
years. 

Bishop  Asbury  came  to  Georgia  in  November,  reaching  Au- 
gusta on  Saturday  the  15th. 

On  Monday  he  rode  out  to  the  home  of  Thomas  Haynes,  and 
remained  with  him  till  Saturday.  He  made  a  compilation  of  the 
number  of  societies  in  Georgia,  and  found  them  to  be  one  hundred 
and  thirty.  He  estimated  that  during  the  year  the  Methodists 
preached  to  130,000  different  people. 

He  went  through  Wilkes,  Warren,  Jefferson,  and  then  back 
to  Wilkes  and  to  Petersburg,  where  he  met  Father  Cummings 
and  Mr.  Dokes,  Presbyterian  ministers,  the  first  of  which  we 
find  mention  in  upper  Georgia.  Then  to  see  Judge  Tait  and 
Ralph  Banks;  and  on  the  15th  he  visited  Hope  Hull,  and  first 
visited  the  new  village  of  Athens.  At  Hull's  house  he  gave  a 
lecture.  On  Sunday  he  preached  at  Pope's  Chapel,  and  was 
assisted  in  the  other  services  by  Hope  Hull,  Stith  Mead,  and 
Moses  Mathews ;  then  to  Gen.  Stewart's,  and  through  Greene 
county  to  Sparta,  the  seat  of  the  conference. 

The  conference  met  in  Sparta  late  in  December,  1806.  It  held 
its  sessions  in  the  house  of  John  Lucas.  Although  Sparta  was  the 
extreme  western  appointment  in  the  conference,  yet  the  preach- 
ers came  from  the  seaboard  of  North  Carolina  to  attend  the 
session. 

George  Dougherty  was  there.  This  village  had  been  in  his 
second  circuit  seven  years  before,  and  now  he  came  to  it  a  dying 
man.  He  was  far  gone  in  consumption.  There  had  evidently 
been  some  cowardice  shown  in  times  of  pestilence,  and  Dougherty 
introduced  a  resolution,  which  was  passed,  that  if  a  Methodist 
preacher  deserted  his  post  in  times  like  that,  he  should  travel  no 
more  among  us. 

Asbury  brought  before  the  conference  his  favorite  scheme  for 
a  delegated  general  conference,  which  should  elect  another  bishop. 


84  History  of 

This  frontier  conference  was  very  much  in  favor  of  it,  but  it  was 
not  pleasing  to  the  more  powerful  central  conferences,  and  was 
not  adopted. 

At  this  session  the  plan  for  a  benevolent  society — the  Society 
of  Special  Relief — was  adopted  at  Asbury's  suggestion,  and  the 
first  collection,  amounting  to  $37.00,  was  raised. 

Jesse  Lee,  who  felt  a  deep  interest  in  Georgia,  solicited  an 
appointment  in  the  State  this  year,  and  was  sent  nominally  in 
charge  of  the  Sparta  Circuit,  but  with  the  evident  design,  as  two 
others  besides  him  were  sent,  of  leaving  him  free  to  go  whither 
he  would.  He  left  the  Virginia  Conference  at  Newbern,  N.  C, 
and  came  to  Augusta,  where  he  was  the  guest  of  Asaph  Watter- 
man,  and  in  that  city  he  preached  three  times  on  Sunday.  He 
then  went  to  Savannah,  and  organized,  after  preaching,  the  first 
Methodist  society  in  that  city.*  He  was  here  the  guest  of  John 
Millen,  a  Presbyterian,  who  was  a  kind  friend  of  the  Methodists. 
He  then  went  to  St.  Mary's,  spending  a  night  with  the  Hon. 
Joseph  Clay,  who  was  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  useful  Bap- 
tist preachers  in  that  portion  of  the  State.  He  was  visited  at  St. 
Mary's  by  Abram  Bessent,  whom  he  had  known  in  North  Caro- 
lina, and  after  visiting  Jeffersonton  he  preached  in  St.  Mary's. 
Here  he  met  Angus  McDonald,  and  went  with  him  over  into 
Florida,  then  a  province  of  Spain,  and  kneeling  on  the  soil  for- 
bidden to  Protestants,  he  prayed  earnestly .  that  the  way  might 
be  opened  to  the  Gospel.  He  came  to  Savannah  again,  and  in 
July  was  in  the  new  county  of  Baldwin.  On  the  29th  of  July 
there  was  a  great  camp-meeting  three  miles  south  of  Sparta. 
One  hundred  and  seventy-six  tents  were  pitched.  Twenty-seven 
preachers  were  present,  and  above  four  thousand  five  hundred 
hearers. f  Fourteen  sermons  were  preached  at  the  stand,  and 
nine  exhortations  delivered.  He  then  went  into  the  new  country, 
which  was  just  now  divided  out  by  lottery,  and  to  Milledgeville, 
where  Brother  Darnell  gave  him  a  home.  He  preached  the 
funeral  sermon  of  Mr.  Drane,  in  the  court-house,  and  on  Monday 
was  called  to  see  Judge  Stith,  who  was  very  ill.  Judge  Stith  had 
been  a  deist,  but  in  the  great  revival  of  the  year  before  had  be- 
come a  Methodist.  Jesse  Lee  found  him  dying,  and  sat  by  his 
bedside  and  sang,  "Happy  soul,  thy  days  are  ended."  The  judge 
kept  his  senses  to  the  last,  and  Jesse  Lee  preached  his  funeral 
sermon  in  the  house  of  Dr.  Thomas  Bird.  This  Dr.  Bird  was 
from  Delaware.  He  had  married  a  Miss  Williamson,  from 
Wilkes.  She  belonged  to  one  of  the  most  aristocratic  and  wealthy 
*Life  of  Jesse  Lee.     t  Lee's  Life.    Dow  also  mentions  the  meeting. 


Georgia  Methodism.  85 

families  of  the  State,  but  joined  the  Methodists,  then  so  much 
despised.  She  was  a  beautiful  Christian  character,  and  though 
her  husband  was  not  in  the  Church  with  her,  yet  he  gave  her 
every  encouragement  in  her  Christian  life.  One  day,  at  a  fash- 
ionable dinner  at  his  house,  a  number  of  persons  were  present, 
and  the  peculiarities  of  the  Methodists  were  discussed,  with 
expressions  of  surprise  that  one  like  Mrs.  Bird  should  adhere 
to  such  a  sect,  when  one  of  the  frivolous  ladies  at  the  table  said : 
"Dr.  Bird,  just  think  of  Mrs.  Bird  shouting!  Why,  what  would 
you  do?"  The  doctor  laughed  merrily,  and  said:  "Well,  I 
reckon  I  should  have  to  pour  a  bucket  of  water  over  her."  The 
gentle  young  wife  blushed  deeply,  and  then  the  tears  began  to 
roll  down  her  face.  The  thoughtless  husband  rose  from  his 
seat  and  went  to  her  and  kissed  her  tenderly,  saying:  "Forgive 
me,  darling !  I  did  not  intend  to  hurt  your  feelings,  and  you  shall 
shout  just  when  you  please."* 

She  was  the  mother  of  Mrs.  Troutman,  formerly  Mrs.  Lamar, 
and  the  grandmother  of  the  Hon.  L.  Q.  C.  Lamar,  who  died  in 
the  communion  of  the  church  of  his  mother  and  grandmother. 
This  year  there  was  much  sickness  in  Milledgeville,  and  Jesse 
Lee  was  constantly  engaged  in  works  of  mercy.  He  left  Geor- 
gia in  December,  having  spent  nearly  one  year  in  his  last  visit 
to  it.f 

On  the  Sparta  Circuit  with  Jesse  Lee  was  a  young  man  who 
was  to  win  for  himself  an  undying  name. 

This  was  James  Russell,  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  native 
orator  Southern  Methodism  has  produced.  What  Patrick  Henry 
was  on  the  hustings,  and  Pinckney  at  the  bar,  James  Russell  was 
in  the  pulpit.  On  the  same  day  with  Lovick  Pierce  he  was  re- 
ceived on  trial  into  the  conference.  He  had  now  traveled  two 
years  in  North  and  South  Carolina.  He  was  of  medium  height, 
symmetrical  in  form,  with  a  clear  blue  eye,  a  large  mouth,  and 
a  well-shaped  head.J  In  his  sixteenth  year  he  was  converted. 
He  felt  he  ought  to  exhort,  but  the  preacher  even  in  those  days 
thought  him  too  ignorant.  He,  however,  permitted  him  to  try, 
and  then  gave  him  license.  He  thought  he  ought  to  preach,  but 
the  Quarterly  Conference,  even  in  those  days,  thought  him  in- 
competent, because  he  could  barely  read ;  but  at  last  entreaty 
prevailed,  and  he  was  licensed  and  recommended  to  the  Annual 
Conference.  He  could  not  read  well.  He  knew  Christ,  and  had 
Christ's  love  in  his  heart,  and  a  zeal  burning  like  fire  to  do  good, 
and  thus  furnished  he  went  forth  to  his  work.    With  his  spelling- 

*From  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Troutman.     tMinton  Thrift's  Life  of  Lee.     JDr. 
L.  Pierce. 


86  History  of 

book  with  him,  he  began  his  career  as  a  preacher  in  the  moun- 
tains of  North  Carolina.  The  children  taught  him  to  read  well. 
He  prayed,  and  studied,  and  preached,  and  souls  were  awakened 
and  converted  under  his  ministry ;  and  now,  much  improved  and 
still  improving,  he  came  to  Georgia.  His  fame  was  not  like 
the  slow  dawning  of  a  northern  sun;  but  as,  with  the  sun  in  the 
tropics,  the  gray  streaks  of  the  dawn  are  but  seen  before  they  are 
lost  in  the  glory  of  the  day,  so  with  him :  in  less  than  five  years 
from  the  time  he  began  to  travel,  the  land  rang  with  the  story  of 
his  eloquence.  He  was  rarely  and  wonderfully  gifted.  His  logic 
was  the  logic  of  the  men  to  whom  he  preached — clear  and  con- 
vincing; his  illustrations  especially  brilliant  and  impressive,  his 
emotional  powers  of  the  highest  order,  his  imagination  glowing. 

Plain  men,  without  high  culture  themselves,  value  metal  more 
than  they  do  polish,  and  as  yet  the  cold  elegance  which  chastely 
arrays  commonplace  thought  was  not  placed  before  the  blazing 
fire  of  genius.  He  might  have  offended  ears  fastidious,  and 
would  have  had  no  attraction  for  those  whose  idea  of  preaching 
is  that  it  should  be  "faultily  faultless,  icily  cold,  splendidly  null," 
but  not  so  to  those  who  heard  him  then.  Camp-meetings  were 
in  their  prime ;  thousands  flocked  to  them,  and  James  Russell  was 
in  his  glory  before  a  camp-meeting  audience.  With  God's  blue 
sky  for  his  frescoed  ceiling,  with  God's  green  earth  for  his  car- 
peted floor,  with  rolling  song  from  a  thousand  happy  lips  for  his 
grand  organ,  he  had  everything  to  inspire  him.  The  very  pres- 
ence of  evil  only  aroused  him  to  grander  deeds.  In  this  conflict 
he  was  no  trained  swordsman  with  a  rapier,  but  a  giant  with  a 
mace,  and  hundreds  fell  beneath  his  blows. 

There  was  an  addition  of  600  reported  at  the  conference  which 
met  in  Charleston,  December  28,  1807,  and  began  its  business 
session  on  the  first  of  January. 

The  appointments  were  made,  and  it  may  be  questioned  whether 
Georgia  ever  had,  man  for  man,  an  abler  body  of  preachers  than 
came  to  her  service  in  1807.  There  was  not  more  than  a  score, 
but  there  was  not  an  inferior  man  among  them.  Randle  and 
Capel  were  on  the  districts  again.  The  circuits  continued  as  they 
were,  save  that  the  Washington  (County)  Circuit  was  formed. 
This  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  Washington  Circuit,  which 
was  in  the  upper  part  of  the  State,  and  so  called  from  its  central 
town.  At  this  conference  the  first  missionary  was  sent  to  the 
Tombigbee  County,  in  Alabama,  of  which  we  hereafter  give  an 
account.  James  Russell  took  charge  of  the  large  and  important 
Apalachee  Circuit,  while  Wm.  Arnold  and  Jos.  Travis  were  on 


Georgia  Methodism.  87 

the  Sparta.  Wm.  Arnold  was  born  in  Randolph  County,  North 
Carolina,  in  1786,  and  died  in  Eatonton,  Ga.,  in  i860,  in  his 
seventy-fifth  year.  He  joined  the  South  Carolina  Conference  in 
his  twenty-second  year.  He  traveled  a  short  time,  and  then  re- 
tired, and  remained  out  of  the  traveling  connection  until  1823, 
when  he  returned  to  it  to  leave  it  no  more  till  his  death.  He 
was  an  efficient  worker  for  many  years.  Few  men  have  been 
more  widely  known  in  Georgia,  and  perhaps  no  man  has  been 
better  loved  by  those  who  knew  him.  He  was  a  gifted  man,  gen- 
tle as  a  girl  in  his  manners ;  fervid,  affectionate,  and  full  of  spir- 
itual power  in  the  pulpit ;  he  was  a  poet  by  nature,  and  his  ser- 
mons were  richly  ornamented  by  the  choicest  gems  of  Wesley's 
verse.  He  came  as  near  to  filling  the  beautiful  picture  of  Gold- 
smith's village  pastor  as  if  the  poet  had  drawn  of  him  a  faithful 
portrait.  He  was  noted  for  his  deep  piety,  and  the  sweet  serenity 
of  his  old  age  was  a  joy  to  all.  He  was  a  faithful  presiding  elder 
for  sixteen  years,  and  travelled  several  of  the  most  important  cir- 
cuits in  the  State.  His  last  sermon  before  his  brethren  at  con- 
ference was  in  Columbus,  in  1858.  He  preached  with  great 
unction,  and  as  usual  became  very  happy,  as  he  spoke  of  the  rest 
that  awaited  the  weary  pilgrim  beyond  the  river.  His  soft  blue 
eyes,  his  long,  silvery  hair,  his  clear,  sweet  voice,  and  the  heavenly 
look  of  the  old  saint,  were  a  sermon  in  themselves.  We  shall 
see  him  again  and  often. 

In  May  of  this  year  the  last  General  Convention  or  conference 
of  Methodist  preachers  met.  The  next  assembly  was  one  of 
delegates  elected.  The  first  motion  for  a  delegated  conference 
was  from  the  South  Carolina  Conference,  and  was  made  by 
James  Tolleson,  in  1800.  The  next  originated  with  Bishop  As- 
bury,  but,  through  the  influence  of  Jesse  Lee  and  others  from 
the  central  conferences,  was  defeated  before  the  annual  meet- 
ings ;  but  at  this  general  conference  the  plan  for  a  delegated  body 
was  adopted.  This  conference  was  a  large  one,  but  the  figures 
indicate  the  inequality  of  the  representation :  New  York  had  nine- 
teen delegates,  Baltimore  thirty-five,  Philadelphia  thirty-two,  and 
South  Carolina  only  eleven. 

Dr.  Coke  was  not  present,  and  Bishop  Asbury  presided. 

There  are  evidences  presented  by  the  journal  of  a  jealousy 
existing  between  the  annual  and  the  general  conferences,  like  to 
that  between  the  State  and  National  governments,  in  which  Jesse 
Lee  took  the  side  of  the  annual  conference.  After  deciding  upon 
a  delegated  general  conference,  a  committee  of  two  members  from 
each  conference  was  selected  to  draw  such  rules  as  they  might 


88  History  of 

think  best  for  the  regulation  of  the  general  conference;  from  this 
committee  emanated  the  famous  chapter  known  as  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  corporate  church.  The  committee  consisted  of  Eze- 
kiel  Cooper,  John  Wilson,  Pickering,  Soule,  McKendree,  Burke, 
Phoebus,  and  Randle.  The  question  which  has  been  before  so 
many  general  conferences,  and  about  which  there  has  been  such 
difference  of  opinion — as  to  how  many  Bishops  there  should  be — 
was  discussed.  Ezekiel  Cooper,  a  progressive  from  New  York, 
moved  that  there  should  be  seven.  This  would  have  been  a  Bishop 
to  each  conference.  Stephen  George  Roszel  moved  that  one  be 
selected,  and  this  was  done  by  electing  Wm.  McKendree  on  the 
first  ballot. 

At  this  conference  Ezekiel  Cooper  and  Joshua  Wells  introduced 
a  resolution  which  was  a  source  of  contention,  sharp  and  bitter, 
till  1820,  when  it  was  carried,  and  the  strife  only  ended  when  it 
was  repealed  in  1828.  It  was  to  have  the  presiding  elders  elected. 
It  received  a  respectable  vote  at  this  conference,  having  fifty-two 
votes  in  its  favor,  and  only  seventy-three  against  it.* 

After  electing  John  Wilson  and  Daniel  Hitt  as  book  agents 
to  succeed  Ezekiel  Cooper,  who  declined  re-election,  the  confer- 
ence adjourned  to  meet  in  New  York  in  181 2.  We  return  to 
the  Georgia  work. 

Abda  Christian  appears  on  the  minutes  appointed  to  the  Sparta 
Circuit.  He,  however,  exchanged  with  Joseph  Travis,  who  had 
been  appointed  to  the  Broad  River.  Travis  was  a  Virginian,  and 
was  converted  in  Harrisonburg.  He  had  removed  to  South  Caro- 
lina, had  been  licensed  to  preach,  joined  the  conference,  and  had 
now  traveled  one  year  in  South  Carolina.  He  was  a  man  of  good 
education  for  those  times,  and  was  really  a  gifted  preacher.  He 
travelled  for  some  years,  then  retired,  and  again  re-entered  the 
work,  and  we  shall  in  coming  years  see  him  on  a  Georgia  dis- 
trict, and  on  several  stations.  He  was  a  ready  writer,  and  we 
are  indebted  to  his  autobiography  for  much  that  has  given  interest 
to  these  pages. f 

During  this  year  on  the  Sparta  Circuit  there  was  an  illustra- 
tion of  faithfulness  under  all  our  circumstances,  which  is  worth 
preserving.     Travis  tells  the  story: 

"Brother  Bob  Martin  was  one  of  the  most  devoted  and  con- 
sistent members  of  the  Church  on  the  Sparta  Circuit,  but  vio- 
lated the  impracticable  church  rule  on  slavery,  and  was  expelled 
from  the  society.  He  continued,  however,  to  go  to  church,  and 
to  get  happy  and  shout  as  usual.     Quarterly  meeting  came,  and 

*General  Conference  Journal,     t Travis's  Autobiography. 


Georgia  Methodism.  89 


k     Ap  law  of  the  church  he  was  excluded  from  the  love-feast. 

Tonntv    near  old  Liberty  Chapel,  and  Asbury  came,  on  his  way 
T£  Sua  on  the  18th  December  *     He  complains  of  his 

SfS  borne  the  burden  alone  for  twenty-five  years.     True, 
^d^t'coat  were  his  «,»,  but  t  hey  were 

fl^  ^Jffi2^£™.  *  <™»    The 
Orient  aid    for  Wm.  McKendree  was  to  be  his  associate     The 

Asbury  says,  u        i  Bush's,  where  the  confer- 

rCn  ^1  be  hdd  Wm  McKendree  had  never  been  in  Geor- 
ZheiorT  H  was  now  fifty-one  years  old,  and  for  twenty 
vears  he  had  been  a  traveling  preacher.  During  that  time  he  had 
traveled  over  a  larger  area  of  country  than  any  man  in  the  con- 
traveled  over  j       t,  h    mountains  0f  North  Car- 

ohna° hi  V ^nffiht^Ws  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  along 
theb^soF^Yzd\dnt  the  Greenbrier,  the  Ohio,  the  Cumber- 
ed to  Miami,  and  the  Wabash,  he  had  gone  to  organize  cir- 
?'  7h  n  .end  nreachers  The  adventurous  settler  had  scarce 
deared  a  paceloflhs  cabin,  before  he  had  found  Wn.  McKen- 
dree or  some  one  he  had  sent  to  preach  to  him.  His  grand 
abors  n  d^  West  will  leave  their  blessings  there  forever.  After 
twelve  years  of  exile  in  these  wilds,  he  went  to  the  General  Con- 
^^TTPaine's  Life  of  McKendree. 


90  History  of 

ference  in  Baltimore.  Not  many  that  were  present  had  ever  seen 
him  or  heard  him.  In  those  days  there  were  no  religious  journals, 
and  the  conference  was  in  comparative  ignorance  of  McKendree 
and  his  work.  When  he  came  to  Baltimore  from  the  far  West, 
so  plainly  apparelled,  they  knew  him  only  as  one  whose  life  had 
been  one  of  hardship  and  danger.  They  now  found  him  a  cul- 
tivated Virginia  gentleman,  and  when  he  was  placed  on  the  most 
important  committee,  they  found  him  a  man  of  most  remarkable 
judgment  and  sagacity;  and  when  he  arose  on  Sunday  morning 
to  preach,  and  the  burst  of  eloquence  which  had  swept  the  con- 
gregations of  frontiersmen  fell  with  irresistible  power  upon  the 
ears  of  the  city  congregation,  they  found  him  to  be  a  preacher 
of  might,  and  he  was  at  once  chosen,  before  the  ballot  was  had, 
for  Bishop.  It  was  a  choice  wisely  made,  for  he  had  had  much 
to  do  with  making  the  laws  he  must  execute,  and  this  knowledge 
of  what  the  convention  designed  to  do  stood  him  in  good  service 
when  he  refused  to  execute  the  unconstitutional  enactment  of 
a  delegated  general  conference  twelve  years  after  this. 

McKendree  was  almost  a  matchless  man.  He  was  symmetry 
itself.  Lee  was  like  a  great  live-oak  of  the  southern  forests, 
which,  rich  in  its  wealth  of  shade  and  strength  of  body,  has  yet 
many  a  crooked  bough — he  was  always  great  and  often  odd.  As- 
bury  was  most  remarkable  in  many  ways ;  but  he  could  be  thrown 
off  his  balance,  and  be  as  petulant  before  his  conferences  as  a 
feeble  but  fond  father  is  before  his  family.  Coke,  learned  as 
he  was  and  good  as  he  was,  was  a  very  unsafe  counsellor ;  but 
McKendree  had  no  crooks,  no  oddities.  He  was  great  in  the  field 
and  the  cabinet ;  he  was  equal  to  the  demand  as  a  preacher,  as 
a  legislator,  and  as  a  presiding  and  executive  officer;  for  dignity, 
learning,  eloquence,  discretion,  zeal,  courage,  devotion  and  self- 
denial,  all  combined,  we  find  no  man  of  his  time  who  was  the 
peer  of  Wm.  McKendree.  He  came  to  the  South  Carolina  Con- 
ference on  this,  his  first  visit,  and  reached  the  place  of  its  ses- 
sion, at  Bush's,  December  26,  1808.  The  conference  was  in  ses- 
sion at  Mr.  Bush's  house,  while  the  camp-meeting  services  went 
on  at  the  old  Liberty  Camp-ground.  Two  missionaries  were 
selected  for  the  Tombigbee,  and  two  to  travel  and  organize  cir- 
cuits between  the  Ashley  and  Savannah,  and  Cooper  and  Santee 
Rivers.  The  Bishops  say  the  opportunities  for  doing  good  are 
glorious. 

At  this  session  the  recommendation  of  Wm.  Capers  was  pre- 
sented to  the  conference.  He  belonged  to  one  of  the  oldest  fami- 
lies in  South  Carolina,  was  the  son  of  an  educated  and  wealthy 


Georgia  Methodism.  91 

planter,  and  was  himself  from  the  South  Carolina  College.  He 
had  come  with  his  heart  full  of  zeal,  to  take  his  place  on  a  cir- 
cuit. Lewis  Myers,  the  strict  constructionist,  opposed  his  admis- 
sion, since  he  lacked  one  month  of  having  completed  his  proba- 
tion; but  the  conference  yielded  to  the  Bishop's  wish,  and  Wm. 
Capers  was  admitted  on  trial  into  the  South  Carolina  Conference, 
December,  1808,  at  Bush's,  in  Greene  County,  Georgia.*  He 
thus  began  a  ministry  which,  for  nearly  fifty  years,  was  a  bene- 
diction to  the  world.  He  was  often  in  Georgia  as  a  stationed 
preacher,  and  made  his  home  in  Oxford  when  he  was  secretary 
of  the  mission  board.  In  connection  with  Stephen  Olin,  he  was 
editor  of  the  first  Methodist  weekly  in  America.  He  was  gifted 
as  few  men  have  been.  His  brain  was  of  the  finest  texture ; 
he  was  fervid,  chaste,  original  in  preaching.  In  private  life,  the 
old  Carolina  blood,  of  which  he  was  justly  proud,  and  the  elegant 
training  of  his  early  life,  were  shown  in  his  perfect  polish  of 
manner.  He  was  a  front  man  in  church  councils,  and  the  dis- 
trict conference,  now  such  a  power,  originated  with  him.  His 
piety  was  as  saintly  as  that  of  Thomas  a  Kempis,  and  his  life 
vastly  more  useful.  We  shall  not  lose  sight  of  him  while  this 
history  progresses. 

Young  Lovick  Pierce  had  not  let  any  hour  pass  by  him  unim- 
proved in  these  two  years  of  station  life  in  Columbia  and  Au- 
gusta, and  had  advanced  so  rapidly  that  the  Bishop  called  him 
from  South  Carolina  to  take  charge  of  the  Oconee  District, 
which  had  been  enlarged  by  the  addition  of  two  circuits,  the  Oc- 
mulgee  and  Alcovi.  This  office,  always  an  important  one,  was 
immensely  so  when  the  Church  was  in  its  formative  state,  when 
the  presiding  elder  was  not  only  to  see  that  the  points  seized 
were  held,  but  when  he  was  to  select  the  new  positions  which  it 
was  important  to  man.  No  one  so  young  as  Lovick  Pierce  had 
been  before  selected  for  this  office  in  America.  He  was  not 
twenty- four  years  old,  and  had  been  just  ordained  an  elder.  That 
he  did  his  work  well,  we  know ;  but  what  he  did,  alas !  we  can  not 
tell.  Always  disposed  to  say  and  write  little  about  his  deeds,  he 
had  deferred  any  full  account  of  his  early  life  to  his  old  age; 
and  after  he  had  written  it  out,  it  was  lost  during  the  war,  and 
the  detailed  incidents  of  these  early  and  important  years  must 
be  forever  untold. 

The  Ocmulgee,  one  of  the  new  circuits,  was  on  the  river  of 
that  name.  This  was  then  the  western  line  of  the  settlements ; 
the  Creek  Nation  was  beyond.  The  Milledgeville  Circuit  in- 
*Wightman  's  Life  of  Capers. 


92  History  of 

eluded  that  section  of  the  new  territory  on  the  western  banks  of 
the  Oconee,  and  the  Ocmulgee  Circuit  joining  it  extended  its  bor- 
ders to  the  boundary  of  the  white  settlements  on  the  south  and 
west.  It  included  parts  of  Jones,  Twiggs,  Wilkinson,  going 
down  as  far  as  Pulaski  and  Telfair.  The  Alcovi,  including  parts 
of  Morgan,  Putnam,  Jasper,  joined  the  Ocmulgee  on  the  north. 
Though  all  the  people  of  the  State  were  not  as  yet  reached  by 
the  Methodist  preacher,  still  he  was  in  every  section  of  the  coun- 
try. The  work  was  at  least  outlined.  The  Ohoopee  Circuit  now 
reappeared  as  a  part  of  his  district,  and  James  Norton,  a  man 
of  fine  parts,  was  sent  to  this  difficult  field.  Angus  McDonald 
had  been  able  to  do  little  or  nothing  there.  Norton  was  more 
successful,  and  reports  as  the  result  of  his  year's  work,  over 
ioo  members.  The  district  of  the  young  elder  includes  in  it  all 
the  features  of  Georgia  society.  In  the  upper  part  of  the  dis- 
trict, among  his  old  friends,  he  will  find  people  as  refined  and 
cultivated  as  any  in  the  State.  Then,  in  the  new  counties  of 
Jones,  Wilkinson,  and  Twiggs,  the  sturdy,  pushing  cotton-planter, 
who  has  brought  his  slaves  and  his  family  to  the  rich  new  land, 
and  then  through  long  stretches  of  thinly-peopled  pine  woods, 
where  there  is  the  want  of  all  the  cultivation  and  refinement, 
and  oftentimes  of  even  the  civilization  of  life.  Through  these 
wilds  he  made  his  way  to  the  sea-coast,  where  the  elegant  hos- 
pitality of  the  Sea  Island  rice-planter  made  some  amends  for 
the  hardships  of  the  way.  All  this  immense  area  of  country 
was  to  be  travelled  over,  if  possible,  four  times  a  year.  From 
the  Apalachee  to  the  St.  Mary's,  from  the  Indian  frontier  in 
Clarke  County  to  the  Florida  line,  is  the  country  in  which  the 
young  presiding  elder,  scarce  twenty-four  years  old,  was  to  find 
his  field  of  labor.  His  duty  tore  him  from  pleasant  homes  and 
pleasant  people;  it  tore  him  especially  from  the  books  he  loved 
so  well ;  it  entailed  a  labor  upon  him  his  feeble  frame  was  illy 
able  to  bear,  but  he  bravely  and  unmurmuringly  went  about  it. 

Josias  Randle,  whose  district  Lovick  Pierce  now  takes,  retires 
to  private  life,  and  returns  to  the  itinerancy  no  more.  He  came 
from  Virginia  to  Georgia  in  1793,  and  had  never  left  the  State. 
He  had  done  a  great  deal  of  very  hard  labor,  and  had  done  it 
well.  Once  he  had  been  driven  to  location ;  he  had  then  re- 
turned to  the  work  again.  He  now,  however,  retires  to  come  back 
no  more.  He  removed  soon  after  to  Illinois,  then  a  territory, 
and  occupied  a  high  place  among  the  people  there,  doing  much  for 
the  Church,  as  well  as  much  for  the  territory.  In  1824  he  was 
taken  with  severe  cold,  which  resulted  in  a  throat  attack,  from 


Georgia  Methodism.  93 

which  he  died.  He  passed  away  in  triumph.  He  was  a  true 
friend  of  Georgia,  and  his  name  ought  to  be  held  in  precious 
memory.* 

New  laborers  come  to  the  field,  but  they  are  all  young  men. 
James  Russell  now  was  sent  on  the  Little  River  Circuit.     This 
embraced  the  heart  of  Wilkes  County,  then  including  the  territory 
of  two  or  three  modern  counties.     This  country  was  not  only 
thickly  settled,  but  the  population  was  of  the  best  kind.     It  had 
now  been  occupied  by  the  whites  for  nearly  thirty  years,  and  hav- 
ing been  very  fertile  and  healthy,  had  attracted  a  body  of  the  best 
Virginia  and  North  Carolina  people  into  it.    Among  the  Virginia 
people  there  was  a  colony  of  well-to-do  Virginians,  who  had  set- 
tled up  and  down  the  Broad  and  Little  Rivers.    Among  these  peo- 
ple Methodism,  twenty  years  before,  had  made  some  conquests: 
David  Meriwether,  John  Marks,  the   family  of  Gov.   Mathews, 
John  Crutchfield,  Ralph  Banks,  and  others,  had  long  been  Meth- 
odists ;  but  there  were  large  families  of  these  Virginians  who  were 
without  any  connection  with  the  Church.     When  they  left  Vir- 
ginia they  were  many  of  them  nominal  adherents  of  the  Church 
of  England ;  after  the  Revolution  they  removed  to  Georgia.  There 
were  no  parishes  or  parish  clergymen.     They  were  thus  without 
any  religious  care.    They  were  in  good  circumstances ;  they  were 
pleasure-loving,  sociable,  and,  as  far  as  mere  social  morality  was 
concerned,  were  high-toned  and  honorable.     To  dance,  to  feast, 
to  visit,  to  talk  politics,  to  hate  Tories,  to  open  new  plantations, 
had  engaged  them  and  their  children  for  many  years.     The  fact 
that  the  Methodists  were  Virginians,  that  some  of  the  most  influ- 
ential Broad  River  families  were  already  of  them,  that  old  Vir- 
ginia hospitality  led  them  to  have  the  preachers  with  them  at  their 
homes,  had  its  influence  in  bringing  them  nearer  the  Church.     In 
1809  there  was  a  sweeping  revival  among  them.     The  father  of 
Gov.  Gilmer  was  converted  and  joined  the  Church  during  that 
meeting.    He  was  a  well-to-do  Virginia  planter,  descended  from  a 
distinguished  Virginia  family,  and  one  which  afterwards  gave  two 
governors  to  the  Southern  States.    Micajah  McGhee,  another  very 
influential  man,  who  had  lived  to  very  mature  years  without  reli- 
gion, joined  the  Church    at    that    time;    the    princely  Edmund 
McGhee  of  Mississippi,  Miles  McGhee  of  the  same  State,  and 
many  of  that  name  in  Georgia,  are  descendants  of  his   family. 
Thomas  Grant,  of  whom  we  have  given  a  sketch  in  one  of  the 
early  chapters,  writes  in  his  journal  that  the  work  was  tremendous 
in  power ;  and  Gov.  Gilmer,  in  his  "Georgians,"  tells  of  the  won- 

*Methodist  Magazine,  1825 


94  History  of 

derful  work  which  swept  the  Broad  River  settlements.  L.  Q.  C. 
De  Yampert,  in  his  sketch  of  Russell,  says,  attended  by  a  corps 
of  evangelists,  he  swept  like  a  conqueror  from  neighborhood  to 
neighborhood.  Dr.  Pierce,  a  participant  in  the  work,  says  it  swept 
infidelity  from  that  section. 

Britton  Capel  was  on  the  Ogeechee  District,  Hilliard  Judge  and 
Wm.  Redwine  were  on  the  Apalachee  Circuit.  Redwine  only 
travelled  one  year,  and  located  to  do  useful  work  as  a  local 
preacher  for  many  years.  He  was  a  man  of  tremendous  muscular 
power,  and  was  said  by  Judge  Clayton  to  have  had  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  minds  he  had  ever  known.*  He  was  at  this 
time  totally  without  culture.  He  had  been  brought  up  in  the 
backwoods,  and  had  never  seen  anything  of  elegant  life,  nor  min- 
gled with  people  of  education.  Dr.  Pierce  says  that  this  year,  at 
a  meeting  in  Oglethorpe,  he  called  upon  Redwine  to  exhort  after 
him.  Redwine  arose  and  announced  a  text :  "Behold,  ye  despisers 
and  wonder  and  perish."  The  first  of  the  despisers  was  the  deist. 
"He  stands,"  says  the  preacher,  "with  his  legs  as  wide  apart  as  if 
he  was  the  Empire  of  France,  and  he  won't  hear  any  man  preach 
who  can't  speak  romantically  and  explay  oratory."  The  feelings 
of  his  presiding  elder  can  be  imagined. 

He  went  to  the  house  of  Brother  Williamson,  in  Hancock. 
Brother  Williamson  was  well  to  do,  and  had  his  home  somewhat 
elegantly  furnished  for  those  times.  Brother  Redwine  noticed 
that  Brother  Williamson's  children  called  him  Pa,  instead  of 
Daddy,  or  Pappy ;  that  the  plates  were  upside  down  on  the  table, 
and  that  Brother  Williamson  wore  suspenders.  He  was  distressed 
at  these  signs  of  worldliness,  and  went  into  the  woods  to  pray. 
Here  he  fell  asleep.  The  sun  was  setting.  Brother  Williamson 
had  come  to  the  same  retreat  for  his  evening  devotion,  and  his 
cup  overflowed  that  evening,  and  he  began  to  shout.  This  awoke 
Brother  Redwine,  and  looking  up,  he  saw  his  happy  brother. 
Rushing  to  him  he  cried,  "Pa  or  no  Pa,  plates  or  no  plates,  gal- 
luses to  your  elbows  or  not,  you've  got  religion,  my  brother." 

He  had  an  accident  to  befall  him,  in  which  his  foot  was  injured, 
and  a  severe  inflammation  set  in,  which  imperilled  his  life.  The 
doctor  told  him  he  feared  he  would  die  of  lockjaw.  "What's  that?" 
said  Redwine.  "Why,  you  will  not  be  able  to  eat  or  talk,  and  so 
must  die." 

"No,  that  I  won't,"  said  Redwine.  "I'll  die  shouting  glory  to 
God,"  and  so  he  did,  but  not  then.  He  was  one  of  those  undrilled, 
unpolished  soldiers  of  Christ  who  knew  better  how  to  fight  in  the 

*Dr.  Pierce. 


Georgia  Methodism.  95 

field  to  which  he  was  called,  than  if  he  had  been  trained  in  the 
best  schools  of  theology. 

A  preacher  having  been  horsewhipped  by  a  wealthy  ruffian  it 
fell  to  Redwine's  part  to  meet  the  man  who  did  the  dastardly 

"So  you  are  the  man  that  horsewhipped  Brother  G.?"   said 

Redwine.  ,  ,  .  ,. 

"Yes,  sir;  and  suppose  I  should  try  to  horsewhip  you,  what 

then?"'  .     . 

"Why,  you'd  be  the  worst  whipped  man  you  ever  saw  in  ten 

minutes,"  said  the  preacher. 

The  coward  knew  the  preacher  could  and  would  do  as  he  said, 
and  he  let  him  alone.*  .       . 

Robert  L.  Edwards  entered  the  travelling  connection  in  1807, 
and  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  Alcovi  Circuit  in  1809.  It  was  a 
new  circuit,  whose  boundaries  we  have  given.  Edwards  was  a 
young  man,  but  a  fine  worker.  He  travelled  only  four  years,  and 
then  located  for  four,  returned  to  the  work,  and  continued  in  it 
till  his  death  in  1850,  having  travelled  regularly  forty-three  years. 
He  was  really  a  remarkable  man,  famous  for  his  readiness  in 
preaching,  and  for  his  revival  power.  Wherever  he  went,  awak- 
ening followed.  His  life  was  useful,  and  his  death  serene.  His 
success  on  the  new  frontier  circuit  was  considerable,  since  he 
reports  486  members  in  it.  Edwards  had  great  fondness  for  new 
fields.  He  solicited  an  appointment  late  in  life,  to  a  neglected 
settlement  on  Broad  River,  and  succeeded  in  one  year  in  raising 
quite  a  church  in  it,  sufficiently  numerous  to  call  for  a  circuit 
preacher. 

The  old  preachers,  always  fond  of  a  harmless  and  merry  story, 

used  to  tell  of  the  old  man  an  incident,  that,  while  amusing,  is  so 

trifling,  that  we  have  hesitated  to  insert  it. 

He  was  very  fond  of  good  coffee,  and  he  was  often  where  it  was 

not  to  be   found.     He  met   Bishop  Andrew,  who  was  passing 

through  his  circuit.    They  were  going  to  dine  at  the  house  of  an 

old  lady  whose  coffee  lost  in  quality  what  it  made  up  in  quantity. 

He  concluded  that  he  would  secure  a  refreshing  cup  for  himself 

while  he  saw  to  the  Bishop's  welfare.    He  rode  ahead  to  the  house 

and  said  to  the  good  sister : 

"Sister,  Bishop  Andrew  is  going  to  dine  with  you,  and  he  is 

specially  fond  of  strong  coffee." 

Dinner  came.     There  were  two  coffee  pots  on  the  table.    The 

good  lady  poured  out  for  the  Bishop  a  cup,  rich,  amber-colored, 

*Dr.  Pierce. 


96  History  of 

strong.  Then  sweetly  turning  to  Brother  Edwards,  said,  "Well, 
Brother  Edwards,  we  do  not  like  ours  so  strong."  The  preacher 
had  his  coffee  poor,  but  the  joke  on  him  was  rich,  and  he  enjoyed 
it. 

Osborn  Rogers  was  on  the  Broad  River  Circuit  this  year.  He 
was  from  Hancock  County,  and  had  been  travelling  since  1807. 
He  was  a  man  of  fine  personal  appearance,  excellent  preaching 
capacity,  and  very  deep  piety.  He  located  in  1814,  and  lived  a 
useful  local  preacher  in  Hancock  County  until  after  the  settlement 
of  Monroe  County,  when,  with  a  colony  of  his  neighbors,  he 
moved  to  this  new  purchase  and  settled  not  far  from  Culloden. 
Here,  in  connection  with  his  other  Methodist  brethren,  he  built 
a  church  which  was  known  as  Rogers  Church,  and  which  is  still 
an  appointment  in  the  Culloden  Circuit.  When  his  boys  grew  to- 
wards manhood,  he  removed  to  Oxford,  to  be  near  Emory  Col- 
lege, and  here  he  spent  his  remaining  days.  He  was  a  man  of 
purest  character,  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him.  He  was  per- 
mitted to  live  long,  surrounded  by  many  friends  and  in  much  tem- 
poral comfort,  and  his  days  were  brightened  by  the  companionship 
of  one  of  the  purest  and  holiest  of  wives.  He  was  permitted  to 
see  the  Church  for  whose  welfare  his  early  labors  had  been  spent, 
second  to  no  other  in  influence  or  members  in  the  county.  He 
gradually  withdrew  from  all  worldly  business,  and  spent  his  last 
days  in  the  sweet  seclusion  of  Oxford,  happy  in  the  enjoyment  of 
its  religious  privileges,  and  in  the  association  with  many  of  his  old 
ministerial  friends  and  associates. 

Epps  Tucker  was  on  the  Warren  Circuit  this  year.  He  was 
now  an  elder,  and  had  traveled  extensively.  He  was  a  man  of 
good  parts,  and  of  great  zeal ;  after  traveling  for  some  years 
he  located,  and  settled  in  Elbert  County.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  quarterly  conference  to  which  James  O.  Andrew  applied  for 
license  to  preacher.  The  brethren  were  not  all  in  favor  of  grant- 
ing it,  but  Bro.  Tucker's  influence  was  sufficient  to  secure  the 
permission,  and  the  future  Bishop  went  forth  duly  equipped,  for 
his  great  work.* 

After  the  organization  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church,  he 
united  with  that  body,  and  finally  entered  the  Congregational 
Methodist  Church,  in  which  communion  he  died.  He  bore  a  fine 
Christian  character,  and  was  a  man  of  extensive  influence.  Epps 
Tucker,  formerly  editor  of  the  Congrcgationalist  of  Alabama, 
from  whom  we  have  gathered  these  facts,  is  his  grandson. 

John   Collingsworth  came  to  Georgia  this   year.      He  was   a 

*Epps  Tucker,  Jr. 


Georgia  Methodism.  97 

Virginian  by  birth,  and  at  this  time  about  twenty-five  years  old. 
He  had  entered  the  conference  in  1807,  and  after  traveling  two 
circuits  in  North  Carolina  came  to  Georgia.  He  remained  in  the 
conference  for  some  years,  then  located,  from  feeble  health; 
but  as  soon  as  his  strength  allowed,  he  re-entered  the  work.  He 
spent  a  few  more  years  in  active  work,  and  then  died  at  his  home 
in  Putnam  County,  the  4th  September,  1834. 

He  was  a  man  of  great  firmness  of  character  and  of  great  in- 
dividuality. He  made  no  compromise  with  the  world,  and  was 
a  very  Elijah  in  the  sternness  of  his  rebuke.  He  was  noted  for 
his  plainness  of  living  and  his  untiring  industry.  Josiah  Flour- 
noy,  of  whom  we  shall  speak  hereafter,  so  admired  the  faithful, 
independent  old  preacher,  who  was  his  friend  and  neighbor, 
that,  on  founding  and  endowing  a  manual  labor  school  in  Talbot 
County,  he  named  it  in  his  honor,  Collingsworth  Institute.  As 
he  grew  in  years  he  grew  sterner,  and  could  not  tolerate  any- 
thing that  looked  like  extravagance  or  worldly  pomp.* 

Rings,  ruffles,  fashionable  bonnets,  or  dress-coats  were  never 
spared.  Prof.  Pendleton  gives  some  personal  recollections  of 
him  which  illustrate  his  character. 

"He  lived,"  says  Dr.  P.,  "near  Post  Oak  Meeting-house,  in 
Putnam.  He  was  of  stalwart  frame,  and  his  visage  was  of  the 
Andrew  Jackson  type.  He  dealt  almost  exclusively  in  the  denun- 
ciations of  the  law,  and  I  can  imagine  nothing  more  fearful  than 
some  of  his  exhortations  to  sinners.  To  a  young  and  impressible 
mind  as  my  own  was  when  I  heard  him,  it  was  truly  awful. 

"He  always  wore  the  round-breasted  coat,  the  white  cravat 
without  a  collar,  nor  could  he  tolerate  any  disregard  of  this  old 
costume,  then  so  common  among  the  preachers."  Dr.  P.  pro- 
ceeds to  give  an  incident  connected  with  the  old  preacher  and 
young  George  Pierce,  afterwards  Bishop,  which,  as  we  have  it 
directly  from  the  Bishop,  we  give  to  our  readers  as  he  gave  it 
to  us. 

After  his  graduation  from  Franklin  College,  George  Pierce 
entered  the  law  office  of  his  uncle,  the  Hon.  Thomas  Foster,  to 
study  law.  He  was  then  a  Christian,  and  felt  it  his  duty  to 
preach.  No  motives  of  early  ambition  had  led  him  to  diverge 
from  the  path  in  which  he  believed  he  ought  to  walk,  but  motives 
of  the  highest  and  most  unselfish  kind.  The  eldest  son,  who 
longed  to  do  something  to  aid  a  self-sacrificing  father,  might  be 
easily  persuaded  that  duty  forbade  his  going  where  his  inclina- 
tion led  him  into  an  itinerancy  which  promised  no  worldly  re- 

*Sprague. 


98  History  of 

turn.  Bishop  Andrew,  living  at  Greensboro,  though  stationed  in 
Athens,  convinced  him  that  he  must  let  the  dead  bury  their  dead, 
and  follow  Christ ;  and  an  application  was  made  at  Bishop  An- 
drew's instance,  to  the  congregation  for  recommendation  to  the 
Quarterly  Conference  of  the  Apalachee  Circuit,  that  license  to 
preach  should  be  granted  to  the  young  law  student.  One  Sunday 
morning,  Brother  Collingsworth  being  preacher  in  charge,  re- 
quested the  society  to  remain,  and  young  Pierce  remained  with 
them.  He  was  dressed  in  his  graduating  suit.  It  was  of  blue 
broadcloth,  a  swallow-tailed  coat  with  brass  buttons,  and  vest  and 
pants  to  match.  The  old  preacher  arose,  and  requested  George 
Pierce  to  retire.  After  some  time  he  called  him  back,  and  met 
him  outside  of  the  house.  "Well,  George,"  he  said,  "in  spite 
of  all  I  can  do,  these  people  have  recommended  you  to  the  quar- 
terly conference  for  license ;  but,  George,  this  coat  must  come 
off.  You  can  never  be  licensed  to  preach  dressed  in  such  a  worldly 
way  as  this."  "But,"  said  the  future  Bishop,  "Uncle  Collings- 
worth, I  have  no  other  nice  coat,  and  don't  think  it  would  be 
right  to  take  this  off,  for  father  is  not  able  to  buy  me  a  new  outfit. 
I  will  wear  this  out,  but  I  will  not  get  another  like  it." 

In  vain  the  old  man  scolded,  reasoned,  and  threatened.  The 
young  preacher  stood  his  ground.  He  scolded  him  privately  and 
publicly.  He  bore  it  meekly,  but  continued  to  wear  his  blue 
broadcloth.  The  next  trouble  of  the  old  man  was  the  way 
George  wore  his  hair.  It  grew  straight  up  from  the  forehead, 
while  his,  in  old  Methodist  style,  lay,  like  Asbury's,  down  upon 
it.  George  told  him  God  made  his  hair  to  grow  up,  and  he  could 
not  make  it  grow  down.  Quarterly  conference  came.  Brother 
Collingsworth  did  all  he  could  to  prevent  the  members  from  giv- 
ing him  license;  but  they  were  only  too  glad  to  license  the  gifted 
and  educated  son  of  one  of  the  noblest  of  the  fathers,  and  the 
old  gentleman  was  overruled  again.  Then  the  annual  confer- 
ence received  the  young  licentiate,  and  he  was  sent  on  the  circuit 
adjoining  Apalachee. 

Half  the  year  was  gone.  There  was  a  camp-meeting  at  Old 
Hastings,  and  Father  Collingsworth  was  in  charge  of  it.  There 
had  been  much  rain,  and  the  preachers  were  unable  to  get  to 
the  ground.  One  evening  the  old  preacher  stepped  into  Sister 
Pierce's  tent,  and  there  at  the  supper-table  sat  George.  He  was 
dressed  now,  if  not  in  proper  clerical  costume,  yet  without  the 
blue  cloth  and  the  brass  buttons. 

"Why,  George,  how  did  you  get  here?" 

"Well,  partly  by  land,  and  largely  by  water." 


BISHOP  FRANCIS  ASBUKY. 


REV.    W.    C.    L<  tVETT,    I 
Editor  Wesleyan  Christian  Advocate. 


REV.   I.   S.   HOPKINS,   D.D. 


PROF.   J.    M.    B<  >NNELL., 
Pres.  Wesleyan  Female  Colli  ~> 


BISIK  »P   KN<  "Ml    M.   MAUVIN. 


Georgia  Methodism.  99 

"Did  you  swim  any  creeks?" 

"Yes  I  did.     I  swam  three." 

The  old  man  lovingly  laid  his  hand  on  the  young  preacher's 
head. 

"Why,  did  you,  boy?  Well,  George,  I  think  you'll  do,  after 
all." 

For  once  Brother  C.  admitted  he  was  wrong. 

The  minutes  report  large  increase  on  the  Ogeechee  District, 
where  James  Russell,  in  the  glory  of  his  strength,  sweeps  a 
conqueror. 

Lovick  Pierce,  on  the  Oconee  District,  had  but  a  single  elder 
in  his  district,  while  the  experienced  and  popular  Capel  had  three, 
and  one  of  them  was  Russell ;  yet  the  increase  is  in  about  the 
same  ratio.  Pierce  visits  every  part  of  his  district,  reaching  even 
Jeffersonton,  near  the  Satilla,  a  few  miles  from  Florida.  This 
incessant  travel  broke  in  upon  his  habits  of  study,  fostered  by 
station  life.  His  Greek  books  were  laid  aside  to  be  taken  up 
no  more,  and  his  habit  of  writing  as  he  studied  was  necessarily 
at  an  end. 

The  annual  conference  met  in  Charleston,  Dec.  23,  1809. 

There  had  been  a  great  revival  on  the  Little  River  Circuit,  and 
one  on  the  adjoining  circuit,  in  South  Carolina.  Asbury  was  de- 
lighted by  the  news  which  reached  him  of  rich  and  poor  in  Geor- 
gia coming  to  Christ. 

The  Oconee  District  was  reduced  in  size,  and  Jos.  Tarpley 
was  placed  on  the  Sparta  District,  which  embraced  all  the  coun- 
try south  and  west  of  Sparta.  Lewis  Myers  returned  to  Geor- 
gia and  was  placed  on  the  Ogeechee  District,  which  Capel  left 
as  he  left  the  conference,  by  location.  Myers  had  gone  from 
the  State  years  before,  a  junior  preacher,  and  after  doing  impor- 
tant work  in  South  Carolina,  he  was  called  to  the  charge  of  a 
district.  Georgia  had  three  presiding  elders  such  as  she  has  not 
often  had. 

Myers,  the  oldest  of  them,  sturdy,  energetic,  earnest,  and  al- 
ways sensible. 

Tarpley,  of  fine  person,  very  eloquent  and  moving  in  preaching, 
and  very  popular  in  his  manners ;  and  Lovick  Pierce,  who  was  a 
marvel  in  his  youth  to  the  grandfathers  of  those  to  whom  he  was 
a  marvel  in  his  vigorous  age. 

These  leaders,  upon  whom  so  much  rests,  had  the  State  divided 
among  them,  and,  attended  by  a  corps  of  pious  and  devoted 
men,  had  gone  forth  on  their  work. 

Hilliard  Judge,  a  Virginian  by  birth,  was  in  Georgia  this  year, 


100  History  of 

and  for  several  years  after  this.  He  was  a  very  handsome  man, 
and  of  very  courtly  manners,  his  style  in  preaching  was  very 
pleasing  and  attractive,  and  improving  constantly,  he  rose  to 
great  eminence  in  the  Church,  occupying  its  most  important  sta- 
tions, and  was  the  first  Methodist  preacher  elected  to  the 
chaplaincy  of  the  South  Carolina  Legislature.  He  located  in  his 
maturity,  and  died  not  long  after. 

James  Russell  and  John  Collingsworth,  men  of  great  power, 
and  John  McVean,  of  whom  we  have  given  a  sketch  in  our  ac- 
count of  Savannah  Methodism,  were  men  of  experience.  The 
rest  were  young  men,  and  one  who  traveled  the  Apalachee  Cir- 
cuit, if  not  to  be  a  great  man,  was  to  lead  a  grand  life.  A  great- 
hearted, brave,  self-sacrificing  man,  who,  amid  a  thousand  diffi- 
culties, continued  his  ministry  to  the  end,  which  came  fifty  years 
from  this  time.  This  was  Jno.  S.  Ford,  the  first  missionary  to 
the  west  of  Louisiana.  He  was  born  in  Chester  District,  S.  C, 
and  was  at  this  time  only  twenty  years  old.  His  father  died 
when  he  was  a  child,  and  his  mother,  after  her  second  marriage, 
removed  to  North  Carolina.  She  was  of  Presbyterian  lineage 
and  education,  and  taught  her  son  the  catechism.  When  he  was 
about  fourteen  years  old  the  wave  of  revival  rolled  from  Ken- 
tucky into  western  North  Carolina,  and  some  of  his  friends  going 
to  a  camp-meeting  returned  to  their  homes  converted.  At  a 
prayer-meeting  held  in  the  neighborhood  they  began  to  shout 
and  clap  their  hands,  and  young  Ford  was  deeply  impressed. 
When  the  Methodist  preacher  came  into  the  section  to  organize 
a  class,  his  mother  and  himself  joined  the  society.  At  nine- 
teen he  applied  for  admission  into  the  traveling  connection,  and 
was  appointed  to  Apalachee,  a  large  and  important  circuit,  as 
the  third  man.  He  was  young  and  timid,  but  he  did  his  work 
well,  and  success  attended  his  labors.  We  shall  see  him  again 
in  a  more  difficult  field.* 

Richmond  Nolley,f  who  was  to  be  his  associate  in  the  far 
West,  was  admitted  into  full  communion  at  this  conference.  A 
few  years  before  this,  while  a  clerk  in  the  store  of  John  Lucas,  at 
Sparta,  under  a  sermon  of  Lovick  Pierce,  at  the  Sparta  Camp- 
ground, he  was  awakened  and  was  converted.  He  spent  one 
year  in  Georgia,  and  one  in  Charleston,  and  this  year  returned 
to  Georgia.  The  next  year  he  went  to  the  far  West.  Of  these 
two  young  heroes  we  shall  speak  hereafter,  even  though  after 
1812  they  are  mentioned  as  being  in  the  Western  Conference. 

After  a  great  revival  there  is  other  work  to  be  done,  and  a 

*  Ford's   MSS.      t  Bishop   McTyiere. 


Georgia  Methodism.  101 

very  important  part  of  church  work  in  early  Methodist  days  was 
excision.  Get  them  into  the  society,  train  them  well ;  but  if  they 
will  not  be  trained,. cut  them  off.  This  was  the  process.  Lewis 
Myers  especially  believed  in  amputation,  and,  believing  it  did 
good,  he  never  allowed  his  sympathies  to  control  his  surgery. 
Wince  they  might,  but  the  amputation  went  on.  There  was  no 
considerable  increase  reported  at  the  conference  which  met  in 
Columbia,  S.  C,  December  23,  1810.  It  met  in  the  house  of 
Governor  Taylor,  then  Senator,  and  after  a  session  which  seems 
to  have  been  pleasant  enough,  but  without  anything  of  special 
interest,  the  conference  adjourned  and  the  preachers  went  to 
their  work. 

The  districts  remain  unchanged,  and  the  same  presiding  elders 
had  them  in  charge.  Alexander  Talley,  the  first  of  three  broth- 
ers who  were  to  do  good  service  for  the  Church,  entered  the 
conference  this  year.  He  was  a  Virginian  by  birth,  but  his 
father  had  removed  to  Greene  County.  He  was  sent  to  the 
Ocmulgee  Circuit,  with  Drury  Powell.  He  afterwards  went  as 
missionary  to  the  Choctaw  Indians  in  Mississippi,  and  when  they 
left  Mississippi  for  the  far  West,  he  went  with  them  there,  and 
remained  in  the  work  until  he  died.  He  died  in  Louisiana  in 
1840.  Thomas  Y.  Cooke  was  sent  to  Milledgeville.  He  was  the 
first  stationed  preacher  ever  stationed  in  the  then  capital  of  the 
State.  The  town  was  now  eight  years  old,  and  its  position  as 
the  capital  had  drawn  quite  a  bustling  and  intelligent  people  to 
it.  The  new  Methodist  church  had  not  long  been  made  ready 
for  occupancy.  It  was  located  where  is  now  the  cemetery.  There 
were  102  members  in  the  station,  and  it  was  consequently  the 
largest  station  in  the  State.  Augusta  had  but  sixty- four  white 
members,  and  Savannah  three.  Warrenton,  which  was  set  apart 
as  a  station,  with  John  Collingsworth  for  its  pastor,  did  not  re- 
main such  but  one  year,  and  was  then  returned  to  the  Warren 
Circuit. 

One  name  occurs  in  the  appointments  this  year  which  was  long 
on  the  minutes  of  the  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  Conferences — 
the  name  of  Whitman  C.  Hill,  who  was  for  many  years  one  of  the 
most,  if  not  the  most  successful  worker  in  the  State.  He  was 
from  the  respectable  and  wealthy  family  of  Hills  in  Oglethorpe 
County.  He  had  enjoyed  all  the  advantages  which  those  early 
days  gave  him,  and  was  a  man  of  very  fair  attainments.  He 
spoke  with  great  fluency  and  correctness,  and  was  very  moving 
in  his  appeals.  His  soul  was  ablaze  with  evangelical  fervor, 
and   wherever  he   went   souls   were   converted.      His   wife,   the 


102  History  of 

daughter  of  Isaac  Smith,  of  precious  memory,  was  his  efficient 
assistant  in  his  work,  laboring  in  a  woman's  sphere  continually 
to  do  good.    We  shall  meet  him  often  as  our  story  progresses. 

On  the  banks  of  the  Tombigbee,  in  the  southern  and  western 
part  of  Alabama,  was  quite  a  body  of  American  settlers.  Pen- 
sacola  and  Mobile  were  the  ports  to  which  came  the  peltry  of  the 
Indians  and  the  goods  of  the  traders.  Prior  to  the  purchase  of 
Louisiana  and  the  opening  of  the  Natchez  Country,  there  were 
a  few  whites,  who  had  already  left  the  white  settlements  and 
squatted  in  the  Nation.  They  were  a  lawless  and  licentious  crew ; 
but  after  the  invention  of  the  cotton-gin,  and  the  purchase  of 
Alabama  from  Georgia,  the  number  of  settlers  increased,  and 
their  characters  improved.  Some  of  them  came  from  North  Caro- 
lina, by  the  way  of  the  Tennessee  River,  to  near  Huntsville,  and 
thence  through  the  wilderness  to  the  Tombigbee,  and  then  on 
rafts  and  in  small  boats  to  the  settlements.*  Others  came  from 
the  Natchez  Country,  and  others  from  Georgia. 

In  1803  Lorenzo  Dow,  making  his  way  to  Natchez,  came  into 
this  country.  He  found  quite  a  number  of  settlers  in  one  group, 
and  a  few  scattered  along  the  river  seventy  miles.  He  left  a 
chain  of  appointments,  which  he  afterwards  filled.  He  was 
probably  the  first  Protestant,  as  well  as  the  first  Methodist 
preacher,  who  ever  preached  the  Gospel  in  Alabama. f 

This  visit  was  made  in  1803.  Tobias  Gibson  and  Moses  Black, 
both  of  whom  had  traveled  in  the  South  Carolina  Conference, 
were  in  the  Natchez  settlement,  and  after  Dow  had  visited  this 
country,  they  came  from  the  West,  and  preached  in  it ;  but  it 
was  not  until  1808  that  Asbury  resolved  to  send  the  frontiersmen 
of  Alabama  a  preacher.  At  the  conference  at  Bush's,  in  Greene 
County,  Matthew  P.  Sturtevant  was  selected  for  the  work.  Stur- 
tevant  was  a  Virginian  of  moderate  gifts,  and  without  the  ca- 
pacity to  organize  and  build  up  a  work  requiring  as  much  hero- 
ism and  skill  as  this  new  field  demanded.  He,  however,  went 
into  the  wilderness  and  began  his  work;  his  health  soon  failed, 
and  when  Col.  Geo.  Foster,  the  father-in-law  of  Dr.  Pierce,  went 
on  an  expedition  to  the  Tombigbee,  he  found  the  lone  missionary 
sick  and  discouraged,  and  he  brought  him  back  to  Georgia  with 
him.J  Michael  Burge  had  gone  to  his  aid,  and  he  continued  the 
work  until  Jno.  W.  Kennon  came,  and  at  the  Conference  of 
181 1,  Jno.  S.  Ford  was  sent  to  the  mission.  The  labors  of  Burge 
and  Kennon  we  are  reluctant  to  pass  over  without  more  than 
mention,  but  what  else  can  we  do?    We  get  a  glimpse,  and  only 

*Pickett's  Aalabama.     tDow's  Life.     JDr.  Pierce. 


Georgia  Methodism.  103 

a  glimpse,  of  the  good  men ;  see  them  in  the  wilds,  pursuing  their 
lonely  work  of  love,  and  see  the  results  of  it;  but  of  the  laborers, 
and  where  and  how  the  work  was  done,  we  know  and  can  know 
nothing.  Since  Dow  was  at  Tombigbee,  until  Ford  came,  we 
know  nothing  definite;  but  in  his  old  age  Ford  wrote  an  account 
of  his  stay  at  Tombigbee,  which  we  have  been  fortunately  able 
to  secure. 

He  had  traveled  his  first  circuit  as  third  man  on  Apalachee, 
and  had  gone  to  see  his  mother  in  North  Carolina.  He  did  not 
go  to  conference,  and  was  waiting  for  his  appointment.  It  came 
at  last.  The  Tombigbee.  It  was  500  miles  away — 300  miles 
through  the  Indian  Nation.  There  were  trails  instead  of  roads ; 
there  were  rivers  to  cross,  without  bridges ;  there  were  no  houses 
to  shelter  the  traveler ;  the  swamps  they  had  to  cross  were  only 
inhabited  by  the  alligator,  the  panther,  and  the  bear;  and  the 
young  preacher  sent  to  the  work  was  only  twenty  years  old. 
He,  however,  did  not  delay,  but  bade  farewell  to  his  mother  and 
to  his  affianced ;  for,  young  as  he  was,  he  had  for  two  years 
been  engaged  to  be  married  to  a  sweet  mountain  girl,  whose 
hand,  five  years  after,  he  came  to  claim,  and  then  turned  his 
face  to  the  far  West. 

Despite  the  sober  dignity  which  the  pages  of  a  history  like 
this  may  justly  demand,  the  poetic  beauty  of  this  scene  must  for 
a  moment  arrest  us.  The  humble  North  Carolina  home,  the 
simple-hearted  Christian  mother,  the  weeping,  shrinking,  timid 
girl,  to  whom  the  young  preacher  was  all  in  all ;  the  short,  ruddy- 
faced,  determined  boy;  the  wild  woods,  the  deep  rivers,  the  rude 
frontiersmen ;  the  unpaid  toil ;  the  intrepidity ;  the  Christ-like 
love — all  these  pass  before  us  as  we  see  Jno.  S.  Ford  leaving  his 
mother's  home  for  the  Tombigbee.  "Every  Christian,"  says 
Vinet,  "is  a  hero ;  every  Christian  minister  a  leader  of  heroes." 
But  such  heroism  as  this  is  rare,  because  rarely  demanded.  He 
shall  tell  his  own  story : 

"Our  conference  was  held  in  Columbia.  News  then  traveled 
slow,  and  it  was  some  time  before  I  found  out  where  I  was 
to  go ;  when  it  came  I  was  surprised  somewhat. 

"I  was  appointed  a  missionary  to  Tombigbee  Mission,  in  the 
Mississippi  Territory.  But  I  had  determined  to  go  where  I  was 
sent.  I  therefore  delayed  not,  but  fixed  up,  and  bade  farewell  to 
my  dear  afflicted  mother,  brothers,  and  sisters,  and  to  her  who 
was  now  dearer  to  me  than  all  others,  and  started  to  my  distant 
field  of  labor.  It  was  a  long  way.  Between  400  and  500  miles 
of  it  had  to  be  performed  on  horseback,  and  300  of  it  through  an 
uncultivated  wilderness,  inhabited  only  by  the  Indians. 


104  History  of 

"I  had  to  pass  through  the  circuit  I  had  traveled  the  previous 
year.  Brother  Osborn  Rogers  was  on  that  circuit,  and  the  first 
Sabbath  after  I  left  I  spent  with  him  at  one  of  his  appointments. 
There  were  two  other  preachers  appointed  to  the  Mississippi 
field  besides  myself,  but  I  found  when  I  got  to  Georgia  that  they 
had  gone  on  and  left  me  behind,  and  it  seemed  I  would  have  to 
go  alone  through  the  wilderness;  but  this  looked  like  an  almost 
impossible  thing,  as  it  was  winter  and  the  streams  almost  full. 
But  I  found  a  young  man  in  Athens,  a  student  in  the  college, 
who  wanted  to  go  through  to  visit  his  parents  in  Natchez.  We 
concluded  to  join  and  go  through  together.  We  got  a  wallet  of 
provisions,  a  hatchet,  and  some  cooking  utensils,  two  blankets 
apiece,  and  took  the  wilderness.  There  were  then  no  white  in- 
habitants from  the  Ocmulgee  in  Georgia  to  the  settlement  on 
Tombigbee.  We  had  to  lie  out  ten  nights  and  travel  eleven  days 
before  we  got  through.  During  our  journey  we  had  a  great 
deal  of  rain,  some  snow,  and  one  heavy  sleet.  The  water-courses 
were  all  full,  and  few  of  them  bridged,  and  but  few  ferries.  We 
had  to  carry  over  our  things  on  logs,  and  swim  our  horses  through. 
On  the  eleventh  day  we  ate  our  last  cake  for  dinner,  expecting 
we  should  have  to  do  without  bread  that  night,  but  fortunately 
we  got  into  the  Basset's  Creek  settlement,  and  to  the  house  of 
Brother  John  Dean,  who  received  us  cordially  and  supplied  ev- 
erything needed  to  make  us  comfortable.  I  felt  very  grateful 
to  my  Heavenly  Father  that  He  had  brought  us  all  through  safely 
the  dangers  and  difficulties  of  the  way,  and  directed  us  to  such 
a  kind  friend  and  brother,  in  that  distant  and  strange  country. 
I  was  now  in  my  mission,  and  this  was  one  of  my  pleasant  homes 
during  my  stay  in  that  mission.  Brother  John  W.  Kennon  was 
already  on  the  mission,  and  had  been  during  the  past  year,  but 
he  was  not  able  to  be  in  that  neighborhood  for  some  days.  My 
traveling  companion,  after  resting  a  day  or  two,  went  on  towards 
Natchez.  There  was  a  pretty  good  society  in  this  neighborhood, 
and  the  Friday  after  my  arrival  was  fast-day.  I  attended  meet- 
ing and  preached  for  them,  and  they  seemed  rejoiced  and  thank- 
ful for  my  safe  arrival.  I  felt  encouraged  and  hoped  to  see 
good  times  among  them,  and  in  this  I  was  not  disappointed,  for 
we  had  a  revival  and  many  were  added  to  the  Church  during  the 
year.  Brother  Kennon  came  on  in  a  few  days,  and  I  went  around 
the  mission  with  him.  It  extended  from  the  neighborhood  on 
Tombigbee  to  the  upper  settlements,  including  the  Basset  Creek, 
fifteen  miles  from  its  mouth  on  Bigbee;  thence  to  the  upper  set- 
tlements on  Buckatuna,  down  that  to  Chickasawhai,  and  down 


Georgia  Methodism.  105 

that  sixty  or  seventy  miles ;  then  to  Leaf  River,  and  thence  back 
to  Chickasawhai ;  then  to  St.  Stephens',  then  down  Bigbee  to  the 
neighborhood  of  Wakefield. 

"Our  appointments,  few  and  far  between,  were  scattered  over 
a  large  country.  We  had  long  rides,  hard  fare,  too  much  water 
in  winter,  and  but  little  in  summer,  but  we  found  many  kind, 
affectionate  friends.  They  were  mostly  new-comers,  and  not 
prepared  to  extend  accommodations  to  us  as  well  as  they  wished ; 
but  when  they  did  as  well  as  they  could,  we  felt  satisfied  and 
grateful.  I  shall  ever  remember  them  kindly,  especially  Brother 
John  Dean  and  his  family.  They  treated  me  as  a  son — may  God 
bless  them !  So,  also,  I  may  say  of  Brothers  John  McRay,  Boy- 
kin,  Godfrey,  and  many  others.  I  found  Brother  Kennon  to 
be  a  pious  man  and  a  good  preacher,  a  kind  and  affectionate 
brother  in  Christ.  We  labored  in  harmony,  and  with  some  suc- 
cess.    We  formed  new  societies,  and  had  some  churches  built. 

"This  was  the  year  of  the  'earthquake,'  as  it  was  called,  from 
the  shaking  of  the  earth  in  1812.  This  produced  general  alarm, 
and  many  who  had  been  skeptical  and  entirely  indifferent  about 
their  future  welfare  were  waked  up.  Our  congregations  in- 
creased. They  began  to  think  the  Bible  was  true  and  our  preach- 
ing of  importance.  I  was  asked  if  the  Bible  said  the  earth  shall 
reel  to  and  fro  like  a  drunken  man.  I  told  them  it  did,  got  the 
place  and  read  it  to  them ;  and  when  they  felt  the  earth  in  motion 
again  their  fears  were  alarmed,  and  they  cried  to  God  for  mercy, 
and  through  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  many  were  led  to 
exercise  faith  in  Christ,  and  obtained  forgiveness  and  a  change 
of  heart,  and  were  made  new  creatures  in  Christ  Jesus.  We  had 
a  gracious  revival,  and  added  many  to  the  Church." 

The  next  year  the  Tombigbee  Mission  and  the  name  of  Ford 
are  not  found  on  the  minutes  of  the  South  Carolina  Conference, 
but  on  those  of  the  Western,  where  he  appears  as  sent  to  the 
Attakapas.  This  was  still  farther  to  the  west,  beyond  the  Mis- 
sissippi, on  the  borders  of  Texas.  Four  preachers  had  volun- 
teered to  come  from  Georgia  to  his  aid.  They  were  Lewis  Hobbs, 
Richmond  Nolley,  Thomas  Griffin,  and  Drury  Powell.  Saml. 
Dunwoody  was  to  come  with  them,  but,  being  a  delegate  to  the 
general  conference,  which  met  in  May,  he  could  not  come  then, 
and  never  came.  Ford  left  Nolley  and  Drury  Powell  on  the 
Tombigbee  Circuit,  and  in  company  with  Hobbs  and  Griffin  went 
on  to  the  Natchez  Country.  They  found  some  old  Methodists 
on  Pearl  River,  then  reached  the  Red  Lick  settlement,  now  Vicks- 
burg,  where  they  left  Lewis  Hobbs.    Then  the  two  young  preach- 


106  History  of 

ers,  Ford  and  Griffin,  crossed  the  Mississippi  and  were  in  Louisi- 
ana.    It  had  for  not  quite  ten  years  been  in  the  possession  of 
the  United  States,  and  was  only  thinly  peopled  by  any  class  of 
settlers,  and  by  very  few  Americans.    Griffin  went  north  towards 
the  Arkansas  line,  and  Ford  towards  the  south.    As  they  traveled 
together  before  they  reached  the  point  from  which  they  were  to 
take  different  ways,  they  came  to  a  small  log-cabin.     It  had  been 
built  by  James  Axley,  and  was  one  of  the  first  Methodist  churches 
in  Louisiana,  and  one  of  the  first  west  of  the  Missippi.    Axley  had 
traveled  in  these  prairies  a  few  years  before,  and  having  been  lit- 
erally starved  out,  unable  to  get  food  for  his  horse,  and  unable  to 
travel  without  him,  he  started  for  his  home  in  Tennessee.    He  had 
to  stop  a  few  weeks  for  his  horse  to  recruit,  and  while  he  was 
resting,  with  his  own  hands  he  built  a  church.    This  was  the  only 
church  Ford  found.  Methodism  had  now  been  six  years  in  Louisi- 
ana, but  had  accomplished  but  little.     Ford  soon  found  himself  in 
the  prairies  to  which  he  had  been  sent.     They  were  wild  and 
untracked,  filled  with  deep  bayous,  dangerous  streams,  and  wild 
swamps.     Now  and  then  he  found  a  body  of  settlers  of  many 
nationalities — negroes,  mulattoes,  quadroons,  Spaniards,  French- 
men, Creoles,  and  Canadians,  alike  in  neither  language  nor  cos- 
tume, in  nothing  but  godlessness.     Here  the  young  preacher  pur- 
sued his  arduous  work.    He  remained  for  two  years  on  the  west 
of  the  Mississippi,  then  two  more  years  in  Mississippi,  and  after 
five  years'  absence  from  North  Carolina,  was  appointed  to  the 
Nolachucky  Circuit  in  Tennessee.     He  returned  home  before  he 
began  his  work.     His  sweetheart,  faithful  all  the  time,  was  wait- 
ing for  him,  and  as  he  had  fairly  won  his  bride,  he  was  married 
as  soon  as  he  returned,  and  then  went  to  his  work.*    He  traveled 
a  few  years,  and  reluctantly  located;  then  returned  to  Georgia 
and  labored  as  a  local  preacher,  re-entered  the  conference,  was 
driven  to  location  again  by  insufficient  support,  and  again  re- 
entered the  work,  and  in  it  died.    He  was  for  a  long  time  superan- 
nuated.   He  was  a  dignified,  meek,  gentle  old  man,  who,  although 
almost   stone  deaf  himself,  used  to  preach  to  others  a  Gospel 
he  could  not  hear  himself.     He  was  much  beloved  by  all  who 
knew  him.     The  dear  wife  who  had  been  the  joy  of  his  heart 
in  youth  and  manhood  and  age,  died  a  few  years  before  him,  and 
the  deaf  old  man,  now  doubly  lonely,  waited  for  the  Master's 
call,  which  came  in  1871,  when  he  went  home. 

Asbury  visited  Georgia  again  this   year,   having  been  nearly 
three  years  absent.     He  entered  the  State  below  Augusta,  and 

*Ford's  MSS. 


Georgia  Methodism.  107 

preached  at  Old  Church,  the  first  time  in  over  twenty  years,  and 
thence  to  Lovett's,  in  Screven.  These  Lovetts  were  the  parent 
stock  of  those  who  are  doing  the  Church  service  now.  He  passed 
through  Effingham,  and  went  to  Savannah,  where  the  good  Dr. 
Kollock  had  several  kind  interviews  with  him.  He  was  accom- 
panied on  this  visit  by  Henry  Boehm,  who  preached  in  German 
for  the  Salzburgers.  He  found  that  Lewis  Myers,  then  presid- 
ing elder,  had  secured  a  lot  for  a  new  church  in  Savannah.  He 
returned  to  South  Carolina,  and  thence  to  Camden,  where  the 
conference  met,  Dec.  31,  181 1.  The  session  seems  to  have  been 
one  of  great  harmony,  and  the  reports  indicate  that  the  year 
in  the  entire  conference  had  been  one  of  great  prosperity.  Dur- 
ing its  progress  there  had  been  a  net  gain  of  3,380  members. 
There  were  now  eighty-five  effective  preachers  on  the  roll.  The 
districts  in  Georgia  remained  as  they  were.  The  Milledgeville 
Circuit  disappeared,  and  the  Cedar  Creek  took  its  place.  Cedar 
Creek  runs  through  Jasper  and  Jones,  and  the  Cedar  Creek  Cir- 
cuit included  Jasper,  Jones,  Baldwin,  and  a  part  of  Putnam.  It 
included  a  fine  country,  which  had  been  settled  for  eight  years 
with  a  good  people,  who  had  means  and  energy.  The  number 
of  members  reported  in  it  was  845.  The  most  important  circuit 
as  to  numbers  was  the  Broad  River,  which  had  1,427  members. 
The  Apalachee  had  1,034,  and  the  Little  River,  742.  The  Sparta 
had  742.  Then  came  the  circuits  in  the  more  thinly  settled  coun- 
try: the  Washington,  which  had  only  298,  and  the  Ohoopee  and 
Satilla  only  100  each.  The  Alcovi  had  986.  The  Louisville, 
517.  There  were  three  small  stations,  Milledgeville,  Augusta, 
Savannah.  Milledgeville  was  the  most  prosperous  station,  and 
in  Savannah  there  was  still  only  three  members. 

During  this  year  the  war  with  England  was  declared,  Savan- 
nah was  threatened  by  the  English  fleets,  and  troops  from  Geor- 
gia were  called  for.  Up  to  this  epoch  the  Methodists  and  their 
preachers  had  been  denounced  by  their  enemies  as  Tories ;  but 
they  now  came  so  bravely  to  the  call  of  the  country,  that  from 
this  day  the  accusation  ceased. 

At  this  conference  delegates  were  elected  to  the  general  con- 
ference provided  for  in  the  session  of  1808.  The  legislative  bod- 
ies of  Methodism  have,  like  all  other  features  of  her  economy, 
been  the  offspring  of  necessity — the  children  of  Providence.  First, 
there  was  the  quarterly  conferences  of  Mr.  Wesley's  societies  in 
America,  and  then  the  annual  meeting  of  all  the  preachers,  and 
then  the  general  conference,  of  which  all  the  elders  were  mem- 
bers, and  which  met  every  four  years.    The  first  regular  general 


108  History  of 

conference  was  held  in  1792;  of  this  no  minutes  are  preserved; 
the  second  in  1796,  of  which  we  have  given  account.  There 
was  a  kind  of  legislative  council,  of  which  Richard  Ivy,  of 
Georgia,  was  one  of  the  first  members,  and  of  which  the  histories 
of  Methodism  give  a  full  account,  but  concerning  which  our  his- 
tory need  do  no  more  than  make  mention.  The  delegated  gen- 
eral Conference  was  to  meet  in  May,  1812,  in  New  York,  and 
at  this  session  of  the  South  Carolina  Conference  delegates  were 
elected.  They  were  Lewis  Myers,  Lovick  Pierce,  Jos.  Tarpley, 
Daniel  Asbury,  W.  M.  Kennedy,  Samuel  Dunwoody,  Jno.  B. 
Glenn,  Jos.  Travis,  and  Hilliard  Judge. 

We  can  not  get  a  proper  view  of  Methodist  history  by  the 
mere  recital  of  current  events  and  the  mere  portraiture  of  the 
workers.  We  must  pause  now  and  then,  and  survey  the  ground 
over  which  we  have  passed,  and  mark  the  changes  which  have 
passed  over  church  and  State. 

Georgia  had  undergone  great  changes  in  the  last  ten  years, 
and  Georgia  Methodists  had  passed  through  a  very  important 
period.  It  has  now  been  nearly  thirty  years  since  the  first  Metho- 
dist came,  and  the  children  of  those  who  were  converted  then, 
and  some  of  those  who  began  to  preach,  now  enter  into  the  work 
of  the  ministry  themselves.  Even  the  frontier  counties  of  Geor- 
gia have  largely  lost  the  rudeness  which  always  belongs  to  new 
settlements,  and  the  older  counties  of  the  State  have  taken  on 
many  of  the  pleasant  features  of  refinement  and  cultivation. 

The  early  Methodist  preachers  were  a  peculiar  people.  This 
they  knew  themselves,  and  they  were  not  disposed  to  deplore  the 
fact.  They  believed  Christians  ought  to  be  a  peculiar  people, 
and  especially  preachers,  and  not  to  be  conformed  to  the  world. 
The  old  discipline  was  the  guide-book,  and  no  army  officer  ever 
regarded  more  strictly  the  army  regulations  than  a  faithful 
preacher  his  discipline. 

Asbury  had  brought  with  him,  from  England,  the  dress  and 
habits  of  an  English  Wesleyan,  and  as  Wesley  was  Asbury's 
model,  so  he  was  in  his  turn  the  model  of  the  American  preach- 
ers. The  dress  of  both  preachers  and  people  was  as  marked 
as  that  of  the  Quakers.  A  preacher  who  did  not  wear  a  straight- 
breasted  coat  was  in  sinful  conformity  to  the  world.  It  was  not 
the  coat  he  wore,  but  the  motive  which  led  him  to  wear  any  but 
a  straight-breast,  that  made  it  an  offense.  The  hair  was  to  be 
cut  short,  and  brushed  neatly  down  on  the  forehead.  No  preacher 
ever  thought  of  wearing  a  beard.  It  would  have  been  almost  as 
offensive  as  a  heresy.     The  good  brethren  would  have  lost  all 


Georgia  Methodism.  109 

confidence  in  his  piety  if  he  had  been  so  worldly.  The  pantaloons 
of  the  French  had  taken  the  place  of  knee-breeches,  and  there 
was  some  disposition  to  wear  newly-invented  suspenders,  or 
galluses,  as  they  were  called.  This  was  very  objectionable,  and 
the  young  preacher  who  used  these  convenient  articles,  had  to 
account  for  it.  Bishop  Capers  tells  how  an  old  brother  said  to 
him  once:  "Brother  Capers,  I  do  love  you;  but  oh,  them  gal- 
luses!" And  there  is  a  tradition  that  in  one  quarterly  conference 
a  young  probationer  was  complained  of  for  wearing  them,  and 
forty  years  afterwards  another  for  not  wearing  them.  Men  and 
women  all  dressed  with  perfect  plainness.  These  details  are 
historical  and  are  not  simply  amusing,  for  a  great  principle  lay 
at  the  base  of  this  to  us  apparently  trivial  matter.  Dress  was 
running  the  world  wild.  Extravagance  and  impurity  were  alike 
fostered  by  it,  and  Methodism,  aiming  to  develop  an  inner  life, 
did  not  do  ill  when  she  endeavored  to  train  her  children  to  use 
that  which  was  outward,  and  not  abuse  it.  The  hour  for  rising 
was  generally  four  o'clock,  winter  and  summer.  From  that  time 
to  six  the  preacher  read  and  prayed.  After  prayers  with  the 
family,  and  breakfast,  he  mounted  his  faithful  horse  and  was 
off  to  his  appointments.  He  preached  about  twelve  o'clock,  and 
invariably  held  class  with  his  flock,  whom  he  had  not  seen  in 
twenty-eight  days,  and  would  not  see  again  for  twenty-eight  days 
more.  He  went  home  with  some  good  brother,  and  frequently 
preached  again  at  night.  This  he  did  every  day  in  the  week 
except  Monday.  His  colleague  and  himself  met  that  day,  and  it 
was  a  rest  day.  If  he  had  a  wife,  he  tried  to  get  to  see  her  then ; 
but  generally  he  was  single,  and  spent  the  day  with  his  colleague. 
There  was  a  conscientious  exactness  in  filling  appointments,  and 
to  do  that  he  braved  all  weathers  and  dared  all  dangers.  The 
rides  were  long,  the  exposure  great,  the  labor  exhausting.  All  this 
required  men  of  iron,  and  but  few  preachers  were  able  to  endure 
it  long;  and  health  giving  way,  one  by  one  they  sank  into  their 
graves  or  retired  from  the  work  broken  down  in  body.  The  salary 
allowed  was  eighty  dollars  per  annum.  Up  to  1804  it  had  been 
sixty- four  dollars ;  before  a  federal  currency  it  had  been  twenty- 
five  pounds  Continental  money.  A  wife  was  allowed  the  same  as 
her  husband.  This  was  paid  out  of  quarterly  collections,  taken  at 
first  by  the  preachers,  and  then  by  the  stewards.  Each  preacher  re- 
ported everything  he  received  to  the  conference,  presents  and  all, 
until  the  law  regarding  presents  was  repealed.  If  there  was  a 
deficiency,  the  conference  made  it  up,  if  it  was  able  to  do  so. 
There  was  no  provision  made  for  family  supplies.     If  a  preacher 


110  History  of 

married  and  had  no  property  of  his  own,  he  had  no  alternative 
but  to  locate  after  his  family  grew  too  large  to  board  around 
with  him. 

The  effects  of  a  disease  remain  when  the  causes  which  gave  it 
being  have  passed  away.  The  limb  once  paralyzed  remains  long 
useless,  even  after  the  clot  of  blood  which  effected  the  injury  has 
been  absorbed,  and  it  is  often  years  before  the  habit  of  use  re- 
turns. So  in  the  Church.  When  Humphries  and  Major  began 
their  ministry  the  members  of  the  societies  were  few.  The 
people  were  all  poor,  and  in  1812  the  same  usages  which  obtained 
in  1788  were  still  existent.  They  had  come  down  to  children 
who  believed  their  ancestors  to  have  done  just  right ;  and  now, 
when  Methodists  were  a  well-to-do,  and  many  of  them  a  rich 
people,  the  same  old  habit  of  giving  a  quarter  of  a  dollar  per 
quarter  continued.  The  preachers,  as  we  have  seen,  were  liter- 
ally forced  to  retire  from  the  work,  or  to  remain  single. 

The  first  Methodists,  for  the  support  of  the  ministry,  gave 
little  and  gave  it  reluctantly.  Why  was  this?  Was  it  the  love 
of  money — a  criminal  penuriousness  ?  We  think  not.  The  same 
Methodist  who  gave  twenty-five  cents  per  quarter  to  his  self- 
denying  preacher,  kept  an  open  house  and  entertained  a  whole 
quarterly  conference ;  he  would  go  twenty  miles  to  a  camp-meet- 
ing and  feed  hundreds.  He  would  oftentimes  give  the  old  preacher 
a  home  as  long  as  he  lived.  He  would  stop  every  plow,  and  send 
every  slave  to  meeting  on  a  week  day.  No  poor  ever  cried  to 
him  in  vain  for  bread.  No  sophistry  could  induce  him  to  take 
more  than  legal  interest  for  his  money ;  yet  he  did  not  give  liber- 
ally to  support  the  preacher,  and  as  yet  there  were  no  missionary 
societies  among  the  Methodists. 

There  were  no  paid  preachers  in  those  days.  There  was  a 
doubt  whether  they  ought  to  be  paid.  The  clergy  of  Virginia, 
from  which  State  the  fathers  of  these  Georgians  came,  had  been 
supported  by  a  reluctantly  paid  tobacco  tax,  and  the  very  thought 
of  a  hireling  ministry  was  obnoxious  to  the  mass  of  the  people. 
The  Baptists  preached  for  nothing,  and  gloried  in  it.  Humphries, 
Ivy,  Major,  had  received  comparatively  nothing;  why  should 
their  successors  need  so  much.  Then  the  preachers  said  nothing 
about  money,  except  to  discourage  its  accumulation.  To  get 
men  to  cease  from  drunkenness,  horse-racing,  gambling,  and  Sab- 
bath-breaking, to  secure  their  conversion,  to  induce  the  worldly 
girl  to  lay  aside  her  rings,  and  ruffles,  and  the  gay  young  man  his 
worldly  ways,  and  to  go  to  class,  and  speak  in  love-feast,  and 
pray  in  the  family,  and  maybe  preach — this  was  the  object  at 


Georgia  Methodism.  Ill 

which  they  aimed.  They  said  but  little,  and  that  little  always 
timidly,  about  the  religious  use  of  money,  and  thus  our  fore- 
fathers in  the  ministry  prepared  the  way  for  their  own  banish- 
ment from  the  work  they  loved  so  well. 

The  people  were  generally  plain,  and  generally  with  but  little 
education,  but  they  were  men  of  sturdy  character.  There  was 
now  and  then  a  home  of  elegance,  but  mostly  the  homes  were 
simple.  Industry  and  prudence  were  the  chief  virtues  next  to 
piety.     There  was  no  want  in  all  the  land. 

The  religious  habits  of  the  Methodists  were  as  marked.  When 
a  man  was  converted  in  those  days,  he  expected  to  shout ;  he 
expected  to  get  happy  at  every  circuit-preaching  day  and  at  every 
class-meeting.  He  expected,  when  he  joined  the  Church,  to  go 
to  circuit-preaching  and  camp-meeting.  He  expected  to  pray 
whenever  he  was  called  on ;  he  expected  to  pray  three  times  a 
day  in  private,  and  to  abjure  all  the  vanities  of  the  world.  This 
was  what  he  believed  the  life  of  a  good  Methodist  demanded. 
So,  when  the  young  girl,  happy  in  her  new  experience,  came  home 
from  the  camp-meeting,  where  she  had  been  converted,  she  took  off 
every  ruffle  and  frill  from  her  dress,  every  flower  from  her  bonnet, 
every  ring  from  her  fingers.  She  had  made  up  her  mind  to  live 
a  life  of  consecration  and  simplicity,  and  to  take  up  her  cross, 
as  she  called  it  at  all  times.  So  she  was  ready  to  pray  in  the 
family,  to  pray  in  class-meeting,  and  to  pray  in  church,  and  was 
an  angel  of  mercy  to  those  around.  This  was  what  the  early 
Methodists  calculated  on,  and  this  was  what  they  did.  They  did 
not  expect  to  support  a  married  preacher,  and  they  did  not 
do  it  until  they  were  convinced  it  ought  to  be  done. 

The  discipline  of  the  Society,  as  the  Church  was  called,  was 
rigid  and  certain.  Every  man,  high  or  low,  knew  he  would  be 
called  to  account  for  any  violation  of  rule,  and  so  directed  his 
steps.  The  Iron  Duke  lived  before  himself  in  his  kinsman,  John 
Wesley,  and  the  same  spirit  which  ordered  an  unfaithful  quar- 
ter-master to  be  shot,  ordered  an  unfaithful  member  to  be  cut 
off,  or  an  inefficient  preacher  to  private  life.  The  discipline  of 
the  English  Methodists  was  introduced  into  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  in  America. 

The  local  preachers  of  those  days  were  numerous  and  effi- 
cient. They  knew  they  had  work  to  do,  and  they  did  it.  The 
circuit  preacher  came  to  only  four  of  his  twenty-eight  appoint- 
ments on  Sunday,  and  the  Sabbaths  fell  to  the  local  preachers. 
They  led  the  way  into  new  fields.  They  assisted  at  every  quar- 
terly and  every  camp  meeting.    They  oftentimes  had  to  ride  fifty 


112  History  of 

miles  to  get  to  them;  but  they  were  there.  We  are  painfully 
conscious  of  our  inability  to  give  to  those  good  men  the  place 
they  are  entitled  to,  but  no  effort  of  ours  has  been  sufficient  to 
rescue  many  honored  names  from  unmerited  oblivion.  The  faith- 
ful class-leader,  the  only  pastor  of  the  flock  in  those  days,  was 
invaluable  when  the  preacher  in  charge  was  not  expected  to  be 
more  than  he  was,  the  preacher  in  charge.  The  steward's  office, 
so  important  now,  was  only  of  small  value  when  all  that  was 
required  of  900  members  was  to  pay  up  their  $100.  There  was 
in,  a  large  circuit,  embracing  several  counties,  only  seven 
and  these  circuit  stewards,  as  they  were  called,  visited  the 
churches  occasionally,  and  took  what  the  people  were  willing  to 
give.  They  had  no  system,  and  did  not  see  the  need  of  one. 
David  Meriwether  or  Thomas  Grant  could  have  paid  the  whole 
assessment  for  the  Little  River  Circuit,  and  never  felt  the  loss  of 
the  money.  So  the  people  were  not  trained  to  do  anything  sys- 
tematically in  this  direction,  nor  was  there  much  improvement 
for  several  years  after  this. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
1812-1816. 

The  districts  retain  the  same  presiding  elders.  The  Oconee 
District,  over  which  Lovick  Pierce  presided,  had  in  it  only  three 
appointments,  Apalachee,  Broad  River,  and  Oconee,  but  they 
stretched  from  the  Savannah  River  to  the  Ocmulgee,  and  from  the 
upper  part  of  Jackson  County  to  the  lower  part  of  Putnam. 

Samuel  M.  Meek,  a  gentle,  gifted  man,  was  sent  to  Milledge- 
ville.  During  this  year  he  established  the  first  Methodist  Sunday- 
school  in  Georgia  of  which  we  have  been  able  to  find  any  men- 
tion.* He  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  Byrd,  and  located  at  the 
next  conference. 

Henry  Bass  was  on  the  Apalachee  Circuit  this  year,  and  though 
it  was  his  first  year,  he  was  in  charge.  He  was  from  Connecti- 
cut. At  twenty-one  he  came  to  North  Carolina.  In  Fayetteville 
he  was  converted  and  joined  the  Church,  and  soon  after  entered 
the  conference.  He  began  in  181 1  a  travelling  ministry,  which 
continued  for  forty-nine  years.  His  first  circuit  was  in  Georgia, 
but  he  did  the  most  of  this  work  in  South  Carolina,  and  there 
ended  his  life.  He  was  an  earnest  worker  and  a  very  successful 
one.  He  was  in  Augusta  in  1819,  when  there  was  the  most  gra- 
cious revival  that  city  had  ever  known.  He  was  in  Savannah  in 
1 81 7,  when  Methodism  made  an  advance  it  never  lost.  He 
enterprised  and  built  the  first  parsonage  in  the  State.  He  was 
laborious,  careful,  devotedly  pious,  and  very  useful.  His  last 
days  were  days  of  great  suffering  and  of  great  peace. 

He  married  a  Georgia  maiden,  a  lovely  young  Methodist,  in 
Augusta.  He  left  behind  him  two  sons,  faithful  ministers  of 
the  Word,  Dr.  W.  Capers  Bass,  of  Macon,  Ga.,  and  Prof.  Henry 
A.  Bass,  of  South  Carolina. 

James  Russell  was  sent  to  Savannah  this  year.  Savannah  was 
still  a  forlorn  hope.  There  were  but  three  white  members  in 
the  society.  A  church  lot  and  some  building  material  had  been 
secured,  but  the  house  was  not  built.  Lewis  Myers  desired  the 
Bishop  to  send  the  most  famous  man  of  his  time  to  help  him  in 
the  important  work ;  and  Russell  was  sent.  He  left  the  country 
to  which  he  was  so  well  suited,  to  enter  into  the  city  for  which 
he  had  no  fitness  at  all.     He  left  a  people  who  rarely  heard  any 


*Mrs.  Troutman. 


...  History  of 

oreachine  but  that  of  plain  men,  to  go  where  for  years  the  mat ch- 
preacmng  oui  ui«i       r  Kolloch    and  the  scarcely  less  at- 

less  eloquence  of  D^Henry  Kohoclw  hearf  Sun. 

dTvCt,HeTefttcoVnry  white  "he  Methodists  were  numerous  and 

SslVrDan  e'l  Boon  e  othe limits  of  a  child's  nursery  Rus- 
selTeeded  room  for  work,  and  encouragement  in  it  but  the  city 
^ordcd'tim  but  «^t°PP°rti\trmallthhadhe°dldn0: 
^rbyTe-nchrrne'n^of  mfelJuenS,  confd  not  be  e,oquent 
^frJ&X  ra^ccit  tt Trsn  grass  from  the  ^ 

en,  red  into  traT,  made  some  successful  contracts  wd. .to  qnar- 
^rmaTters  then  began  to  do  business  of  various  kinds  for  his 
fr  ends  in  tl  eTnterfor.    Success  attended  him.    He  made  money 

S-^^J^  s  o i  gJ  Russell  was  a 

things  in  Hfe  is  a  bankruptcy,  when  the  bankrupt  is  conscious  of 
unrTdttnes  but  knows  others  do  not  so  regard  his  course;  when 
he  ha s  never  intended  to  injure  any  man,  but  knows  he  has  done 
so  Poor  Russell!  he  had  held  so  high  a  place  among  his  breth- 
ren And  now  to  be  denounced,  by  those  who  once  loved  him 
and  h^ored  him,  as  one  who  had  deceived  and  defrauded  them ! 
He  was  a  hopeless  bankrupt.  He  could  not,  if  he  had  had  capac- 
^Tave  Covered  himself,  and  alas!  he  had  lost ^  what ^va 
aJL rer  to  him  than  all,  his  ministerial  place.  He  ocated  ms 
fSulv  had  ^own  up  around  him;  he  struggled  hard  to  support 
thSn  n  AvgJsta  he  used  to  make  a  scanty  hying  by  using  a 
whTelbarrow  fo  carry  packages.  t  He  was  still  a  young^ 
W  rare  had  broken  him  in  heart  and  m  body.  He  had  gnen 
Ms  yolnm  and  yonng  manhood  to  the  work  of  the  ministry;  he 

*Dr.  Pierce.     tMrs.  Waterman. 


A   CIRCUIT  RIDER  OF  THE   EARLY   DAYS. 


DR.    W.    H.    FELT<  »N. 


Georgia  Methodism.  117 

was  fitted  for  nothing  else.  He  was  still  permitted  to  preach  as 
a  local  preacher,  and  Stephen  Olin  heard  him  at  that  time  with 
unmixed  delight.*  The  lamed  eagle  would  attempt  to  soar  as 
had  been  his  wont,  and,  crippled  as  he  was,  he  soared  like  an 
eagle  still,  but  he  soon  grew  weary,  and  came  to  earth  again. 
He  never  lost  his  Christian  integrity.  His  name  was  never  sul- 
lied with  the  stain  of  intentional  wrong.  He  was  as  meek,  and 
gentle,  and  patient,  in  the  days  of  his  adversity,  as  he  had  been 
joyous,  and  brave,  and  generous  in  other'  times.  None  now  re- 
call him  save  to  honor  him  as  the  wonderful  genius  who  had 
consecrated  all  to  Christ  and  brought  many  souls  home  to  glory. 
He  died  in  1825,  at  Dr.  Meredith  Moon's,  in  Abbeville,  S.  C, 
when  he  was  about  forty-five  years  of  age.f 

The  general  conference  met  in  May,  1812,  in  New  York.   Bish- 
ops Asbury  and  McKendree  were  both  present.     It  was  the  last 
general  conference  Asbury  ever  attended ;  ere  the  next  he  was  in 
Heaven.    The  general  conferences  before  this  had  had  their  ses- 
sions with  closed  doors,  excluding  every  one  except  elders,  who 
composed  the  body ;  but  now  all  the  preachers  in  full  connection 
were  admitted  into  the  gallery  as  spectators.    Bishop  McKendree 
presented  the  first  Bishop's  Pastoral,  which  was  referred  for  con- 
sideration to  the  respective  committees.     Lewis  Myers  was  on 
the  Committee    of  Episcopacy.     The    presiding  elder    question 
again  came  up,  and  some  very  strong  men   from  the  east  and 
north  argued  that  the  office  should  be  made  elective.     The  dele- 
gates from  the  south  and  west  opposed  this  view  then,  and_  at 
future  times.    It  was,  however,  only  defeated  by  a  small  majority. 
James  Axley  endeavored  unsuccessfully  to  have  a  new  law 
introduced  into  the  discipline,  forbidding  the  distillation  and  re- 
tail of  spirituous  liquors  by  members  of  the  Church.     This  was 
voted  down,  on  the  ground  that  we  had  already  decided  that  such 
persons  should  be  dealt  with  as  in  case  of  other  immoralities. 
A  motion  to  forbid  members  of  the  Church  from  buying  lottery 
tickets  was  presented,  and  action  was  deferred  to  the  next  gen- 
eral  conference.     The  slavery  question  as  usual  came  up,  but 
was  quietly  disposed  of  by  a  motion  to  lay  the  subject  on  the 
table.     J.  Early  introduced  a  resolution  which   for  many  years 
stood  in  the  discipline,  to  forbid  the  giving  of  treats  at  elections. 
The  South  Carolina  delegation  seems  to  have  been  a  very  quiet 
one,  only  one  motion  having  been  made  by  Lewis  Myers,  and 
none  by  any  other  of  the  delegates. 

*See  letter  in  the  first  issue  of  the  Christian  Journal.     tDr.  Sprague,  Bishop 
Wightman,   Dr.   Pierce,   and   others. 


118  History  of 

The  conference  continued  its  sessions  till  May  22d,  when  it 
adjourned  to  meet  in  Baltimore,  May  I,  1816. 

As  its  hour  of  meeting  and  adjournment  were  from  nine  to 
twelve,  and  from  three  to  five,  it  was  really  in  session  more  hours 
than  the  conferences  of  the  present  time,  which  remain  together 
for  one  month. 

The  war  was  now  upon  the  country,  the  Indians  as  well  as  the 
British  were  in  arms  and  the  hostilities  stagnated  all  trade,  so 
that  there  was  general  alarm  and  depression.  It  was  not  to 
be  wondered  at  that  there  should  be  for  the  first  time  in  several 
years  a  decrease  of  members.  In  the  Sparta  District  the  decrease 
was  nearly  400,  and  in  the  Ogeechee  over  200 ;  but  in  the  Oconee 
there  was  a  considerable  increase,  so  as  to  nearly  offset  the  lapse 
in  the  other  two.  There  were  no  considerable  revivals,  and  this 
was  the  beginning  of  years  of  constant,  though  slow  decline.  The 
total  number  of  members  reported  at  the  Conference  of  1813 
was  8,453  whites  and  1,450  colored. 

Jno.  B.  Glenn,  who  was  on  the  Ohoopee  Circuit,  was  from 
Chester  District,  S.  C.  He  was  converted  when  he  was  twenty- 
one,  and  joined  the  conference  in  1809.  He  traveled  for  some 
years,  then  located,  and  after  living  in  Jones  and  Meriwether 
counties  in  Georgia,  finally  moved  to  Alabama,  and  settled  in 
Auburn,  where  he  died  in  1869.  He  was  a  good  and  useful  man 
to  the  end. 

The  conference  met  at  Charleston,  December  19,  1812.  Bishop 
Asbury  was  present.  To  reach  the  conference  the  feeble  old 
man  had  ridden  on  horseback  from  Kentucky,  where  he  was  in 
October,  over  the  mountains  of  East  Tennessee  and  North  Caro- 
lina, and  on  to  Charleston.  The  weather  was  severe,  and  he 
often  had  to  swim  his  noble  horse,  Fox,  through  the  swollen 
streams.  Although  it  does  not  properly  belong  to  this  history, 
we  can  not  forbear  giving  one  view  of  this  noble  old  man's  trav- 
els when  he  was  nearly  seventy  years  old.  Leaving  Charleston 
January  7th,  he  rode  through  the  swamps  of  eastern  South  and 
North  Carolina,  suffering  much  from  long  rides,  insufficient  ac- 
commodations, and  excessive  cold.  By  the  8th  of  February  he 
was  at  Norfolk,  Va.,  and  then,  facing  the  cold  March  winds,  he 
went  northward  through  Eastern  Maryland  to  Baltimore,  which 
he  reached  on  the  nth  of  March.*  By  the  5th  of  April  he  was 
in  Pennsylvania;  on  the  1st  of  May  in  New  York,  to  attend  the 
sessions  of  the  general  conference ;  in  June  he  was  in  Connecti- 


*  Asbury 's  Journal. 


Georgia  Methodism.  119 

cut,  suffering  from  high  fever;  passing  into  Massachusetts,  he 
returned  to  New  York,  and  held  Conference  in  the  upper  part 
of  the  State ;  then  through  Western  New  York  into  Pennsylvania, 
among  the  mountains  and  the  Germans ;  across  into  Virginia, 
and  back  again  to  Maryland  by  September  ist;  through  Pennsyl- 
vania again  to  Ohio  by  the  nth  of  September,  and  into  Ken- 
tucky by  the  7th  of  October ;  southward  through  Kentucky,  across 
Cumberland  Gap  to  East  Tennessee,  and  thence  to  Charleston. f 
To  any  one  who  will  take  the  map  of  the  United  States,  and 
consider  not  only  the  geography  but  the  topography  of  the  coun- 
try through  which  the  old  Bishop  and  his  faithful  young  com- 
panion traveled,  the  accomplishment  of  such  a  journey  by  such 
a  man  will  appear  almost  incredible. 

He  says  that  the  session  of  the  conference  was  a  pleasant  one, 
and  that  the  preachers  saw  eye  to  eye  in  making  the  appoint- 
ments. 

The  arrangement  of  the  Georgia  work  was  changed.  Lovick 
Pierce  left  the  Oconee  District,  and  Joseph  Tarpley  was  ap- 
pointed to  it.  The  Sparta  District  ceased  to  be,  and  its  circuits 
were  divided  between  Joseph  Tarpley  and  Lewis  Myers.  Lovick 
Pierce  was  stationed  in  Milledgeville.  During  this  year  a  draft 
for  soldiers  was  ordered,  and,  as  preachers  were  not  excluded, 
he  was  drafted  with  the  militia.  The  colonel  of  the  regiment 
offered  him  the  chaplaincy  of  it,  which  he  accepted,  and  was  sta- 
tioned at  Savannah.  Here  he  began  to  read  medicine,  and  pre- 
pared himself  for  that  location  he  saw  was  inevitable,  under  the 
then  condition  of  things. 

At  this  conference  Lovick  Pierce  brought  up  from  the  Broad 
River  Circuit  the  recommendation  of  James  Osgood  Andrew. 
He  was  the  son  of  John  Andrew,  the  first  native  Georgian  who  had 
joined  the  traveling  connection.  James  Andrew  was  not  a  prom- 
ising-looking lad  when  he  was  somewhat  reluctantly  licensed  by 
the  quarterly  conference  to  preach ;  but  he  was  a  good  boy,  of 
good  parentage,  and  might  make  a  useful  man,  they  thought. 
Preachers  were  needed,  and  so  the  conference,  on  the  recommen- 
dation of  his  presiding  elder,  received  him  on  trial,  and  he  was 
sent  as  second  man,  on  the  Saltcatcher  Circuit,  in  Barnwell  and 
Beaufort  Districts,  S.  C.  His  own  estimate  of  himself  was  low, 
but  not  lower  than  that  of  some  who  composed  the  quarterly 
conference  which  licensed  him.  It  required  the  entreaties  of 
Epps  Tucker  to  induce  them  to  grant  him  license.  He  was  re- 
quired to  preach,  and  after  he  came  out  of  the  church,  mortified 

t  Ibid. 


120  History  of 

at  his  failure,  he  was  comforted  by  one  of  the  brethren  saying 
to  him,  "James,  I  voted  for  you,  but  if  I  had  heard  that  sermon 
I  would  not  have  done  it."  James  did  not  go  to  Camden  to  con- 
ference, but  received  through  the  preacher  on  the  circuit  his 
appointment.  A  kind  friend  gave  him  a  little  black  pony  which 
he  called  Cicero,  and  he  started  for  South  Carolina,  on  his  life- 
long work  in  the  traveling  ministry.*  W.  M.  Kennedy  was  his 
presiding  elder,  and  it  was  well  for  the  sensitive  boy  that  he 
was,  for  Kennedy  saw  the  brilliant  mind  of  the  young  preacher, 
though  the  simple-hearted  brethren  of  the  quarterly  conference 
did  not.  The  crust  on  the  diamond  does  not  hide  its  beauty  from 
the  lapidary,  and  W.  M.  Kennedy  was  a  judge  of  jewels.  Thomas 
Darley  was  now  a  local  preacher  in  the  bounds  of  the  circuit, 
and  he  did  the  boy  every  service  which  judicious  counsel  could 
do.  The  year  ended,  and  he  had  done  well.  He  was  not  re- 
quired to  go  to  conference,  and  went  on  a  visit  home  to  receive 
his  appointment  to  the  Bladen  Circuit,  in  North  Carolina.  He 
was  now  in  charge  of  a  large  circuit,  with  600  members  scat- 
tered over  three  counties  in  North  Carolina  and  one  district 
in  South  Carolina.  There  were  many  poor  people  in  his  circuit, 
and  in  one  part  of  it  the  people  had  neither  bread  nor  meat,  but 
lived  on  peas,  buttermilk,  and  honey.  There  were  a  number  of 
Scotch  Highlanders  in  the  bounds  of  his  work,  who  spoke  noth- 
ing but  Gaelic.  They  were  rigid  Presbyterians,  but  not  sober, 
and  the  old  Scotch  pastor  was  himself  too  fond  of  a  glass.  The 
pious  ones  among  them  were  known  as  new  lights. f 

Amid  these  surroundings  the  future  Bishop  prepared  for  con- 
ference. There  was  at  that  time  no  examination  into  literary 
proficiency.  The  great  question  was  as  to  the  young  preacher's 
piety  and  zeal,  his  success  in  winning  souls,  and  his  firmness 
in  executing  the  discipline.  While  the  circuit  had  not  increased 
much  in  numbers,  it  was  evident  to  the  conference  that  young 
Andrew  was  not  a  failure.  He  went  now  to  his  first  conference, 
which  met  in  Milledgeville.  He  was  sent  in  charge  of  the  War- 
ren Circuit,  in  Georgia.  It  was  large  and  important,  extending 
from  Warren  to  Richmond,  and  including  Warren,  Columbia, 
and  Richmond  Counties.  There  were  in  it  near  800  members — 
no  small  charge  to  a  young  man  just  admitted  into  full  connec- 
tion. Gause,  his  companion,  was  somewhat  eccentric,  who,  after 
traveling  a  little  while  as  Methodist,  formed  a  now  extinct  body 
known  as  the  Benign  Society,  and  died  in  communion  with  the 


*From  himself.     tHis  own  reminiscence  as  published  in  S.  C.  Advocate. 


Georgia  Methodism.  121 

Baptist  Church.*  His  next  appointment  was  Charleston.  He 
was  the  third  man  on  the  station,  and  two  other  young  men,  G. 
Christopher  and  Thomas  Stanley,  were  with  him.  Timid  and 
sensitive  he  always  was ;  but  now,  in  his  twenty-third  year,  to 
be  thrust  into  a  large  city  was  a  great  trial  to  his  courage ;  but 
he  did  his  work  well.  He  was  by  this  time  a  preacher  of  real 
power.  He  had  been  trained  by  constant  practice  for  the  pulpit. 
He  had  a  mind  of  great  native  grasp,  a  heart  full  of  deep  feeling, 
a  taste  of  the  nicest  order,  and  his  expression  was  full  of  earn- 
estness, tenderness,  and  pathos.  He  was  fervent  and  fearless. 
His  imagination  was  glowing,  and  although  he  was  but  a  young 
man,  he  commanded  the  admiration  of  all  who  heard  him;  and 
though  so  young,  was  even  then  the  peer  of  many  of  the  fore- 
most. There  was  a  Scotch  merchant  in  Charleston,  named  Mc- 
Farland,  who  had  a  lovely  daughter,  Amelia.  The  family  were 
all  Methodists,  and  Amelia  not  the  least  devoted.  The  young 
preacher  was  not  invulnerable,  and  in  his  fourth  year  he  found 
himself  deeply  in  love  with  his  young  parishioner,  and  engaged 
to  be  married  to  her.  Now,  there  is  nothing  wonderful  in  this, 
and  it  requires  no  special  amount  of  courage  in  a  young  preacher 
in  this  day  to  marry  a  good  girl,  when  he  has  graduated  into 
elder's  orders ;  but  not  so  then.  The  good  Asbury  had  reached 
old  age  unmarried,  and  so  had  McKendree,  and  Bruce,  and  Lee. 
The  preachers  who  married,  located;  and  if  Andrew  married 
ere  he  was  twenty-three,  his  elders  thought  he  would  be  lost  to 
the  Church  as  an  itinerant.  Lewis  Myers,  yet  unmarried,  was 
noted  for  the  severity  of  his  castigations  when  a  young  preacher 
was  so  infatuated  as  to  marry  early  and  when  Andrew  knew  all 
this  and  took  the  gentle  Amelia  as  he  did  to  be  his  wedded  wife, 
he  evinced  the  depth  and  ardor  of  his  affection.  He  married 
her,  and  proved  the  falsity  of  the  predictions  and  the  folly  of 
the  scourging,  and  during  thirty  years  of  toil  she  was  the  joy 
of  his  life  and  the  light  of  his  home.  With  his  young  bride  he 
went  to  Wilmington,  N.  C,  for  two  years,  and  then  to  Columbia, 
S.  C,  for  one,  and  in  1820  returned  to  Georgia,  and  was  sta- 
tioned at  Augusta,  where  we  will  see  him  again. 

Samuel  Dunwoody  was  appointed  at  the  Conference  of  1812 
to  go  to  the  Mississippi  District,  but,  being  a  member-elect  to 
the  General  Conference,  did  not  go,  and  was  sent  at  this  con- 
ference to  St.  Mary's,  which  had  been  a  station  for  two  years, 
but  continued  one  only  during  this  year. 


'Leaves  from  the  Diary  of  an  Itinerant. 


122  History  of 

Samuel  K.  Hodges  joined  the  conference  this  session,  and 
was  sent  on  Little  River  Circuit.  He  continued  in  the  work  in 
some  relation  until  his  death,  in  1842.  He  was  a  leading  man  in 
Georgia,  and  exerted  a  great  deal  of  influence  both  in  church  and 
State.  He  was  a  man  of  finest  business  capacity,  and  was  an  effi- 
cient presiding  elder  the  larger  part  of  the  time  that  he  was  an 
effective  preacher.  He  was  presiding  elder  on  the  Columbus  Dis- 
trict, when  he  was  taken  seriously  ill  and  died  at  his  home  in 
Columbus,  saying  that  for  thirty  years  he  had  been  trying  to 
get  ready  for  the  change,  and  was  not  afraid  to  go.  He  did 
much  for  the  Church  in  Georgia,  and  to  his  sagacious  labors  much 
of  her  present  prosperity  is  owing. 

Anthony  Senter,  who  had  been  a  blacksmith,  and  who  had 
left  his  forge  for  the  pulpit,  was  on  the  Sparta  Circuit  this  year. 
He  was  a  good  man,  with  a  strong  mind  and  a  warm  heart.  He 
filled  important  places,  and  died  of  consumption  in  Georgetown, 
S.  C,  in  1817. 

Allen  Turner's  name  appears  as  junior  preacher  on  the  Wash- 
ington Circuit.  It  stood  upon  the  minutes  for  forty  years  after 
this.  He  was  an  unlettered  boy,  but  one  whose  very  heart- 
depths  had  been  stirred  by  his  religious  conflicts,  and  who  had 
found  a  rich  peace  in  a  simple  faith.  He  was  a  man  of  very 
marked  peculiarities,  strong  in  his  convictions  of  what  was  right, 
and  bold  in  asserting  them.  He  dressed  in  the  style  of  the  older 
Methodists,  never  allowed  himself  the  luxury  of  a  laugh,  and 
appeared  to  be  a  man  of  great  austerity,  but  was  really  a  man  of 
exquisite  gentleness.  He  was  afraid  of  no  man,  and  fought  fear- 
lessly when  his  principles  were  attacked.  Judge  Longstreet,  who 
was  his  great  friend,  wrote  some  articles  in  favor  of  instrumental 
music  in  churches.  Uncle  Allen  assailed  him  right  gallantly, 
and  made  a  brave  tilt,  even  though  he  failed  to  unhorse  his  an- 
tagonist. Did  a  preacher  wear  a  beard,  or  shave  on  Sunday,  he 
might  expect  an  attack  from  this  censor  omnium.  He  did  much 
very  hard  work,  and  did  it  cheerfully;  and  when  old  age  and 
mental  weakness  prevented  him  from  doing  regular  and  efficient 
service,  he  was  always  engaged  in  trying  to  do  good. 

He  was  wonderfully  gifted  in  prayer,  and  was  a  man  of  mighty 
faith.  He  was  as  well  known  and  as  highly  respected  as  any  man 
of  his  time,  for  "e'en  his  failings  leaned  to  virtue's  side."  His 
good  wife  died  some  time  after  him,  and  his  oldest  son,  Jno. 
Wesley,  himself  a  very  useful  man  and  a  traveling  preacher, 
passed  away  not  long  after  his  father. 

Thomas  Stanley  was  from  Greene  County.     He  had  applied 


Georgia  Methodism.  123 


for  license  to  preach    and  -°— ^ 

ence;  but,  before  the   presidmg   el     r   left     ^  the 

heart  failed  him,  and  he  ^f^^ptrce,  his  presiding  elder, 
plication  for  admission.    After  Lovick .  r ic :      ,        v 
had  gone  to  conference    Stanley  t^^a^n  one  horse, 
and  he  rode  rapidly  after     ^^"inle  to  have  his 
secured  another,  and  reached  the  conference  in  t  ^ 

name  V»^^*&^£££^t**  of  the 
cated,  and  settled  in  Athens ,  wn  a   staUon 

Female   Academy.      While   there   Athens    v 
and  he  was  employed  to  take  charge  of  ^£™*™tat  son, 
stationed,  preacher -there. ^^^^  bo  ved  his  head  submissively, 
a  promising  boy,  died.     While  he  dow 

devoted  to  the  church  of  his  early  love  LouisTffle  Circuit, 

N't'aof  ThtTb^rrNi  holaYs  Ale°xa!;de^aUnd  John  We. 
TeyS  °wnho°al  ente^d  tL'  South  Carolina  Con  ference and  d,d 
good  work  in  it  Nicholas  Ta  ley  was  hcen d  o  prea ch by  D  . 
Lovick  Pierce  when  h£  w"  m  **  °^"  ^  ,£  work  and  con- 

ttime  'itl    tihrWsndeCatrfiyfty  yea\    atr^rds.     He  was  often 
tinued  in  it  till  his  aearn uny  y  Carolina  Conference. 

Church  was   ^ag^tupwh^  r  he  w^  ^^      ^ 

Columbia    aC,    o    many  yea  ^  ^^ 

was  an  elegant  ^  ^«  m  g^  ^^  ^  sta_ 

Lucius  Q.  C.  De   ^an\Pert'f  oiethorpe  County,  and  was 

tioned  in  Augusta.     Hew  «  from  Ubiet       p  /   ^  ^ 

of  French  extraction^      «  ^^ofhim,  furnished  by  Bishop 


124  History  of 

Pierce,  Osborn  Rogers,  James  E.  Glenn,  Joseph  Travis,  all  of 
whom  had  labored  in  Georgia,  were  located. 

Lovick  Pierce  had  now  been  a  married  man  for  two  years. 
Up  to  this  time  no  man  had  continued  long  in  the  itinerancy 
after  his  marriage,  and,  indeed,  it  was  a  necessity  that  a  mar- 
ried man  should  locate.  There  were  no  parsonages.  The  cir- 
cuits were  of  immense  size.  There  was  no  provision  to  shelter 
or  feed  his  family.  His  promised  income  was  only  $80  per  year. 
So  well  recognized  was  this  fact,  that  no  preacher  was  under  any 
disapproval  who  retired,  and  a  glad  welcome  always  awaited 
him  when  he  was  able  to  come  back.  For  several  years  the  name 
of  Lovick  Pierce  is  no  more  seen  on  the  minutes,  and  two  gen- 
eral conferences  convene,  and  his  is  not  among  the  list  of  dele- 
gates. We  can  but  deplore  the  sad  necessity  which  drove  him 
from  the  field  at  the  time  he  was  so  much  needed.  He  married 
a  Miss  Foster.  Her  father,  Col.  Foster,  was  an  energetic,  active, 
and  successful  planter,  and  a  leading  member  of  the  Church  ; 
and  her  brother,  Col.  Thos.  Foster,  a  lawyer  of  distinction,  and 
afterwards  a  member  of  Congress.  She  was  a  woman  of  re- 
markable character,  and  has  a  right  to  a  place  in  the  History  of 
the  Church  in  Georgia.  She  was  one  of  those  women  who  la- 
bored not  with  Paul,  but  with  one  of  Paul's  successors  in  the 
Gospel,  for  many  weary  years.  She  had  married  a  Methodist 
preacher.  She  loved  his  work,  and  she  never  impeded  him  in 
his  way.  A  home  was  necessary,  and  she  remained  at  it  and 
brought  up  the  children,  while  her  faithful  husband  was  away 
at  his  appointments.  She  never  complained  of  her  lot,  but  bore 
her  part  bravely.  She  deserves  a  place  beside  him,  so  honored 
and  so  loved,  in  the  affections  of  the  Church. 

The  same  presiding  elders  were  appointed  at  this  conference 
to  the  same  districts.  There  were  but  four  traveling  elders  in 
the  State,  apart  from  Myers  and  Tarpley,  and  the  three  best 
workers  among  them,  Mason,  Hill,  and  Russell,  had  small  sta- 
tions. The  circuits  were  left  almost  entirely  to  the  charge  of 
young  and  inexperienced  men. 
_  The  war,  too,  was  upon  the  country  still.  Financial  depres- 
sions, losses  and  anxieties,  were  on  every  hand.  The  Church 
suffered,  and  there  was  decline  during  the  year. 

In  December,  Bishop  Asbury  came  on  his  last  tour  to  Geor- 
gia. Sick  and  aged,  he  still  worked  on,  and  was  now  on  his  way 
to  conference.  Crossing  the  river  at  Elbert  County,  he  met 
Joseph  Tarpley,  and  they  went  thence  to  Samuel  Rembert's.  His 
heart  was  cheered  with  the  accounts  Tarpley  gave  him  of  camp- 


Georgia  Methodism.  125 

meetings  on  the  various  circuits,  and  while  at  Rembert's,  he 
received  from  John  Early  an  account  of  that  famous  camp-meet- 
ing in  Prince  Edward  County,  Virginia,  where  a  thousand  per- 
sons were  converted.  He  left  Elbert  and  came  to  Athens,  where 
he  found  Dr.  Brown  had  much  improved  things  at  the  college. 
He  went  thence  to  Milledgeville,  stopping  at  John  Turner's,  in 
Hancock,  Nicholas  Ware's,  and  Bro.  Holt's,  and  reached  Mill- 
edgeville. This  was  the  last  conference  he  ever  attended  in 
Georgia,  and  the  last  Hope  Hull  ever  attended  at  all,,  as  it 
was  the  first  to  which  James  O.  Andrew,  then  closing  his 
second  year,  had  come.  Milledgeville  was  a  sprightly  young 
town  ten  years  old,  the  capitol  of  the  State.  A  church  had  been 
built,  which  was  not  yet  finished,  and  Bishop  Andrew  mentions 
in  his  reminiscences  that  the  stumps  were  still  in  the  streets. 
Bishop  Asbury  was  suffering  much  with  his  cough,  and  could 
barely  preach,  but  tried  to  do  so,  and  for  the  last  time  spoke 
to  the  church  in  Georgia,  and  to  the  preachers  who  loved  him  so 
well,  and  who  now  wept  most  of  all  that  they  should  see  his 
face  no  more.  There  were  a  number  of  valuable  men  who  re- 
tired from  the  field — men  who  had  done  faithful  work  in  Geor- 
gia— Jonathan  Jackson,  Wm.  Capers,  Henry  D.  Green,  James 
C.  Rogers  and  James  Russell,  all  located,  and  while  there  were 
a  number  who  entered  the  work,  there  were  none  among  them 
who  afterwards  reached  any  considerable  distinction.  Lewis 
Hobbs,  the  beautiful  Christian  of  whom  we  have  spoken,  who 
had  worn  out  his  life  in  hard  labor  in  the  West,  died  during  the 
year. 

Lewis  Myers  and  Joseph  Tarpley  still  continue  on  the  districts. 
Milledgeville,  which  has  been  a  station,  ceases  to  have  inde- 
pendent existence,  and  becomes  an  appointment  in  the  Cedar 
Creek  Circuit.  There  was  a  very  small  decrease  in  the  mem- 
bership, and  there  are  evidences  of  a  state  of  stagnation  in  church 
work. 

The  conference  met  in  Charleston,  Dec.  23,  181 5.  It  was  a 
sad  meeting.  Only  once,  since  the  South  Carolina  Conference 
was  organized,  had  Francis  Asbury  ever  been  absent ;  but  now 
he  came  not,  and  would  come  no  more  forever.  He,  resolute  to 
the  last,  had  made  an  earnest  effort  to  reach  the  conference,  and 
had  come  nigh  to  the  city,  when  he  grew  too  feeble  to  travel 
farther,  and  reluctantly  consented  to  remain  in  his  sick-room. 
McKendree  was  present,  and  presided ;  daily  communication  was 
kept  up  between  Asbury,  thirty  miles  away,  and  his  brethren. 
We  know  nothing,  other  than  the  minutes  tell  us,  of  this  last 
conference  Asbury  strove  to  reach. 


126  History  of 

The  appointments  to  the  districts  continued  as  they  had  been. 
A  few  new  preachers  came  to  the  State,  and  Thomas  Darley  was 
sent  to  the  Louisville  Circuit.  There  were  a  few  other  elders 
in  the  conference  besides  himslf — Hill,  Dickinson,  Hutto,  Sewell, 
Jno.  B.  Glenn,  and  Whitman  C.  Hill.  The  most  notable  man  of 
the  corps  of  preachers  was  Thomas  Darley,  an  Englishman  by 
birth,  who  had  been  one  of  Tarleton's  troopers. 

Of  his  encounter  with  Samuel  Cowles,  of  Washington's  Legion, 
we  have  already  told.  By  some  means  Darley  was  left  in  Amer- 
ica when  the  English  troops  were  withdrawn,  and  under  the 
ministry  of  Isaac  Smith  he  was  converted.  He  traveled  a  few 
years,  then  located,  then  re-entered  the  work,  and  in  it  died. 
His  family  resided  in  Jefferson  County,  and  he  traveled  the  works 
to  which  he  was  sent  until  1830,  when  he  was  superannuated. 
He  removed  to  Harris,  then  a  new  county,  in  1832,  and  died  there 
in  great  peace  during  that  year.  Dunwoody  says  of  him:  ''He 
was  a  powerfully  awakening  preacher,  and  many  a  hard-hearted 
sinner  was  made  to  quail  before  the  convincing  power  of  the 
truth."    He  was  eminently  successful  in  winning  souls  to  Christ. 

Among  the  new  names  which  appear  this  year  we  find  the 
familiar  name  of  Dabney  P.  Jones.  He  was  on  the  Broad  River 
Circuit.  He  was  a  homely  little  man,  of  good  mind,  and  of 
great  sprightliness  of  character.  He  traveled  some  years,  and 
then  located,  and  thus  remained  until  his  death  long  afterwards. 
He  was  a  devoted  temperance  man,  and  an  eminently  successful 
worker  in  the  cause  for  which  he  was  State  lecturer.  He  was 
very  popular  and  very  useful ;  he  labored  efficiently  in  the  local 
ranks,  and  moving  in  the  early  settlements  of  the  new  purchase 
west  of  the  Flint  River,  he  found  ample  field  for  all  his  labors. 
lie  preached  the  first  sermon  ever  preached  by  a  Methodist  in 
the  city  of  Newnan. 

James  Bellah  was  a  junior  preacher  of  the  Sparta  Circuit.  He 
was  already  a  married  man,  and  had  a  home.  He  was  a  man  of 
good  parts,  and  very  useful.  He  traveled  many  of  the  hardest 
and  some  of  the  best  circuits  in  Georgia.  He  was  a  tall,  slender 
man,  of  dignified  and  impressive  look,  and  preached  with  much 
earnestness  and  pathos.  Tie  belonged  to  the  third  set  of  Metho- 
dist preachers,  and  was  the  peer  of  any  among  them.  He  came 
after  the  unmarried  pioneer  had  laid  out  the  fields  for  tillage — 
when  there  was  hard  work  and  rough  work  demanded,  when 
the  majority  of  the  people  were  comparatively  uneducated,  but 
when  the  coarser  features  of  the  frontier  had  passed  away.  He 
came   when   married   men   of   experience   were   in   demand,   but 


Georgia  Methodism.  I27 


when  the  Church  had  made  no  provision  for  their  support,  and 
w ho  must  as  he  did,  support  themselves.  He  came  from  ge 
purest  motives,  and  labored  hard,  and  died  in  the  work  He 
was  he  brothe  of  Morgan  Bellah,  who,  the  very  year  his  health 
Tailed  took  up  his  work  where  he  laid  it  down,  and  who  con- 
tinued a  good  and  useful  man  for  half  a  century 

EUjah  Bird  was  sent  to  the  Saltilla  Circuit  He  wasaSouh 
Carolinian,  a  good  man,  possessed  of  marked  Panties  but 
noted  through  a  long  life  for  his  love  for  the  Church  For  man) 
years  he  wis  local  and  his  home  was  long  a  preachers  resting 
place.  His  wife  was  remarkable  for  her  saintly  character,  and 
did  much  to  assist  him  in  his  work.  . 

The  minutes— our  only  authority— tell  a  sad  story  this  year 
for  there  was  a  decline  of  over  700  members  reported.     As  most 
of  the  preachers  were  young  men,  inexperienced  in  keeping  rec- 
ords  it  is  probable  there  were  statistical  errors,  but  still  the  tact 
remains  that  the  decline  which  began  in  1812  still  goes  steadily 


onward. 


DnItrthis  conference  the  delegates  to  the  general  conference 
which  was  to  meet  in  May  1816,  were  elected  They  consisted 
of  Lewis  Myers,  Daniel  Asbury,  Joseph  Tarpley,  W.  M.  Ken- 
nedy Thomas  Mason,  Hilliard  Judge,  Sam  1  Dunwoody,  Anthony 
Senter,  Jno.  B.  Glenn,  James  Norton,  Solomon  Bryan,  Henry 
Bass,  Reuben  Tucker,  and  Alexander  Talley. 

The  conference  adjourned,  and  Asbury,  as  soon  as  he  could 
turned  his  face  northward.    He  wished  if  it  were  God  s  will  that 
he  might  be  able  to  reach  Baltimore  by  the  time  the  general  con- 
ference met  in  May.     He  had  gone  by  slow  stages  towards  Balti- 
more    He  had  reached  Richmond,  and  preached  his  last  sermon 
sitting  upon  a  table  in  the  old  church  there.     He  began  his  jour- 
ney again,  and  in  the  house  of  a  kind  friend  in   Spottsylvama 
County,   March   21,    1816,   God   gave  to  his  beloved  sleep,   and 
Francis  Asbury  rested  from  his  toils.     From  1767  to  1816  he  had 
been  unwearying  in  his  labors ;  nearly  fifty  years  he  had  spent  in 
striving  to  win  souls.     He  had  worked  on  two  continents,  and 
had  travelled  more  miles  on  horseback  over  America,  than  per- 
haps any  man  in  it.    He  had  suffered  much  physical  pain,  for  he 
was  never  at  any  time  perfectly  well.    He  had  braved  every  dan- 
ger and  been  exposed  to  every     privation,     yet  he  had    never 
swerved.     Than   Francis   Asbury   a  nobler   soul   never  lived— a 
braver,  truer,  gentler,  more  unselfish ;  and  to  no  man  does  Geor- 
gia owe  a  greater  debt  than  to  him.    With  his  death  we  may  close 
this  chapter  and  resume  our  story  with  the  account  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  in  1816. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
1816— 1823. 

The  General  Conference  met  in  May,  1816,  in  Baltimore. 
McKendree,  the  only  Bishop  living,  was  present  and  presided. 
This  was  an  interesting  and  an  important  session.  The  dread  of 
episcopal  power  seems  to  have  been  growing,  and  the  same  spirit 
which  had  called  forth  the  effort  to  make  the  presiding  elder's 
office  elective,  for  the  protection  of  the  travelling  preachers,  now 
gave  being  to  a  petition  from  certain  local  preachers  in  Georgia 
for  redress  of  grievances.  Who  these  were  we  do  not  know ;  but 
we  may  conjecture  that  Epps  Tucker  and  Britton  Capel,  who 
afterwards  united  with  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church,  and 
were  strong  men,  were  the  leaders  in  the  movement.  The  right 
to  deacons'  and  elders'  orders  had  already  been  accorded  to  the 
class  petitioning,  but  this  memorial  asked  for  representation  for 
them  in  the  Annual  Conferences,  and  the  privilege  of  having  sal- 
aries for  their  ministerial  services.*  This  was  probably  the  first 
appearance  of  that  cloud  which  burst  forth  in  such  a  storm  six 
six  years  later.  The  usual  committees  were  elected,  and  Lewis 
Myers  was  placed  on  his  old  committee  on  Episcopacy.  Again 
the  question  of  electing  presiding  elders  was  up  on  a  motion  from 
New  England.  After  a  very  prolonged  discussion  the  vote  was 
taken,  and  the  motion  lost  by  a  large  majority. 

Two  additional  Bishops  were  elected — Enoch  George  and  R. 
R.  Roberts.  The  amount  to  be  allowed  a  travelling  preacher  was 
increased  from  $80  to  $100  per  annum,  and  for  the  first  time  it 
was  required  of  the  charges  that  provision  should  be  made  for  the 
family  sustenance  of  the  preachers.  A  course  of  reading  and 
study  was  recommended  for  candidates  for  membership  in  the 
conference.f 

A  committee  was  appointed,  called  the  Committee  of  Safety. 
It  consisted  of  Joshua  Soule,  Enoch  George,  and  Samuel  Parker. 
The  report  of  this  committee  is  an  interesting  document.  The 
committee  found  the  Church  infected  with  many  heresies.  Pe- 
lagianism  and  Socinianism  were  preached  in  many  of  the  socie- 
ties. The  discipline  was  not  properly  enforced.  Pews  were  sold. 
The  civil  law  was  used  to  collect  ministerial  support ;  this  was  evi- 
dently in  New  England,  though  not  so  stated.  The  rule  on  dress 
was  disregarded.     Some  preachers  were  arbitrary  in  administer- 

*General  Conference  Journals.     tJournals. 


Georgia  Methodism.  129 

ing  discipline.  The  circuits  were  too  small,  and  there  was  too 
great  a  tendency  to  confine  ministerial  labor  entirely  to  the  Sab- 
bath. 

A  Methodist  magazine  was  again  ordered,  which  began  its  life 
in  1818. 

James  Axley  brought  forward  his  favorite  measure  to  forbid 
the  members  of  the  Church  from  distilling  and  selling  whiskey, 
and  at  last  he  had  a  resolution  passed  forbidding  preachers  from 
doing  it.  At  this  conference  the  report  of  the  committee  on  the 
vexed  question  of  slavery  was  carried  after  a  motion  of  concur- 
rence had  been  made  by  George  Pickering,  a  leading  member 
from  New  England.  This  resolution  was  as  follows :  "There- 
fore, no  slaveholder  shall  be  eligible  to  any  official  station  in  our 
church  hereafter,  where  the  laws  of  the  State  in  which  he  lives 
will  admit  of  emancipation,  and  permits  the  liberated  slave  to 
enjoy  freedom."  This  resolution  was  long  known  as  the  compro- 
mise measure,  and  was  the  cause  of  much  after-discussion. 

The  Book  Concern,  though  it  had  grown  from  nothing  in  1796, 
to  a  capital  of  $80,000  in  1816,  was  somewhat  embarrassed ;  a 
change  of  officers  was  made,  and  Joshua  Soule,  and  Thomas  Ma- 
son who  had  travelled  in  South  Carolina,  were  elected  agents. 
On  the  24th  of  May,  1816,  the  conference  adjourned.* 

With  the  death  of  Asbury,  and  the  senior  episcopacy  of  Mc- 
Kendree,  some  very  silent  but  important  changes  entered  into 
episcopal  methods.  From  that  time  the  cabinet,  as  the  assembly 
of  the  presiding  elders  and  Bishops  was  called,  became  an  insti- 
tution. Asbury  consulted  no  one  in  making  his  appointments.  He 
knew  every  part  of  the  work ;  he  knew  every  preacher ;  he  had 
great  and  not  unwarranted  confidence  in  his  own  judgment ;  he 
had  been  invested  with  this  almost  absolute  authority  when  the 
Church  was  small  and  the  preachers  few,  and,  conscious  of  purity 
in  its  exercise,  he  was  unwilling  to  surrender  any  part  of  it.  But 
McKendree,  with  more  caution  and  better  judgment,  clearly  saw 
that  appointments  could  not  be  wisely  made  by  the  mere  motion 
of  any  one  man's  mind,  and  he  felt  the  need  of  and  called  for 
consultation  with  the  elders ;  from  this  time  it  became  a  fixed 
custom.  To  many  of  our  readers,  unfamiliar  with  the  mode  of 
making  appointments  at  conference,  an  explanation  of  the  man- 
ner of  making  them  may  not  be  uninteresting. 

The  Bishop  calls  the  presiding  elders  into  secret  session  soon 
after  the  meeting  of  the  conference.  In  this  council  each  pre- 
siding elder  is  the  guardian  of  his  own  district,  seeing  after  the 

*Jonrnals. 


130  History  of 

interests  of  both  preachers  and  churches  under  his  care.  He 
states  to  the  Bishop  and  the  council  what  he  thinks  is  best  for 
the  Church  in  his  district;  what  circuits  shall  be  formed;  what 
stations  established ;  what  preachers  shall  be  changed,  and  where 
they  shall  be  placed.  The  whole  council  consider  the  matter  and 
make  suggestions.  The  Bishop  sits  as  umpire,  and,  after  mak- 
ing his  own  views  known,  makes  the  final  decision. 

McKendree  was  now  almost  an  old  man.  Years  of  the  hardest 
work  had  worn  him  down,  and  though  he  was  still  a  stronger 
man  than  Asbury  had  been  for  many  years,  he  was  by  no  means 
vigorous.  Enoch  George  and  R.  R.  Roberts,  two  men  of  full 
strength  and  in  middle  life,  were  now  his  colleagues. 

Roberts  was  a  Western  Marylander,  who  had  spent  his  youth 
in  the  wilds  of  Western  Pennsylvania.  He  was  a  mighty  hunter 
and  loved  the  frontier  and  frontiersmen  with  all  their  ways. 
He  had  been  converted  early,  and  had  early  begun  to  preach. 
His  preaching  was  of  high  order,  and  he  especially  evinced  fine 
administrative  qualities,  and  after  having  been  a  presiding  elder, 
was  selected  at  the  General  Conference  of  1816  for  Bishop.  He 
was  a  man  of  large  brain,  large  body,  and  large  heart.  He  re- 
moved, after  his  election  to  the  Episcopacy,  to  the  wilds  of  In- 
diana, and  lived  and  died  in  a  log-cabin.  His  modesty  was  of 
the  highest  order,  and  the  story  of  some  of  the  most  striking 
manifestations  of  it  has  been  carefully  preserved.  One  of  these 
had  its  scene  in  South  Carolina,  and  Travis  knew  the  preacher 
concerned  in  it.*  Roberts,  on  his  way  to  conference,  had  reached 
the  home  of  a  Methodist  in  South  Carolina,  after  dark  one  even- 
ing. The  family  had  already  supped.  The  Bishop  made  the  ordi- 
nary request  of  a  benighted  stranger  for  lodging;  this  was 
granted,  and  he  came  in.  He  was  a  man  of  huge  form,  was 
dressed  very  plainly,  and  had  nothing  about  him  that  betokened 
a  man  of  position.  The  family  were  in  a  pleasant  mood;  the 
young  preacher,  a  sprightly  and  agreeable  man,  was  with  them, 
and  the  Bishop  was  expected.  The  hours  passed  merrily  by,  but 
the  Bishop  did  not  come ;  the  quiet  stranger  in  the  corner  did 
not  receive  much  attention,  and  when  the  hour  came  for  retiring 
he  went  to  his  room.  In  a  little  while  the  young  preacher  fol- 
lowed. He  found  the  old  man  on  his  knees  in  prayer  and  became 
assured  that  he  was  a  Christian.  When  he  arose  from  prayer  he 
said  to  him : 

"You  are  a  member  of  the  Church?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

*  Travis '  Autobiography. 


Georgia  Methodism.  131 

"Which  way  are  you  traveling?" 

"To  Columbia." 

"Why,  that  is  where  our  conference  meets;  we  are  expecting 
the  Bishop;  do  you  know  him?" 

"Yes,  sir;  I  traveled  with  him." 

"Why!  did  you?    What  is  your  name?" 

"Roberts." 

"Roberts!  why,  not  Bishop  Roberts?" 

"Well,  that's  what  they  call  me." 

The  young  preacher  insisted  upon  calling  the  family  up  and 
having  supper,  but  the  Bishop  would  not  consent,  nor  would  he 
allow  him  to  make  him  known.  The  next  morning  the  Bishop 
left,  and  when  he  met  his  young  brother  in  Columbia  he  was 
especially  kind  to  him. 

The  conference  met  at  Columbia,  December  25,  1816.  Bishops 
McKendree  and  George  were  present.  Bishop  George  had  visited 
his  old  friends  in  Georgia,  and  now  joined  McKendree  at  Colum- 
bia. McKendree  had  made  his  journey  through  the  Cherokee 
Nation  to  the  seat  of  the  conference.*  There  was  considerable 
change,  as  there  always  had  been,  among  the  Georgia  preachers, 
but  none  in  the  shape  of  the  work;  church  affairs  were  moving 
in  the  old  ruts. 

Charles  Dickinson  was  appointed  to  the  Ocmulgee  Circuit. 
"It  was,"  says  Dunwoody,  "a  large  and  laborious  circuit,  consist- 
ing of  twenty-eight  appointments  for  twenty-eight  days.  It  in- 
cluded Twiggs,  Wilkinson,  parts  of  Jones  and  Pulaski  Counties. 
The  rides  were  long — a  distance  of  from  twelve  to  eighteen  miles 
was  between  them."  Dickinson  needed  a  helper,  and  Lewis  Myers 
employed  James  Dunwoody,  the  younger  brother  of  Samuel  Dun- 
woody,  to  assist  him.  There  were  some  parts  of  the  circuit  in 
Twiggs,  where  the  population  was  considerable  and  the  people 
wealthy;  but  in  the  larger  part  of  the  work  the  people  were  few 
and  very  poor.  Charles  Dickinson  was  a  good  man,  of  no  great 
gifts, f  but  full  of  zeal  and  of  very  deep  piety.  He  only  traveled 
a  few  years,  when  he  was  taken  sick  at  his  home  in  Washington 
County,  where  he  died  in  great  peace. $ 

Whitman  C.  Hill  had  with  him  on  the  Little  River  Circuit  a 
young  man  who  was  to  do  great  and  good  work  for  the  Church. 
This  was  Andrew  Hammill.  He  was  from  South  Carolina,  and 
was  of  Irish  descent ;  he  had  been  early  a  Christian,  entered  the 
conference  at  twenty  years  old,  and  traveled  for  nearly  eighteen 

*McKendree's  Life.     t  Dunwoody 's  Life.     J  Ibid. 


132  History  of 

years,  when  he  died.  He  was  a  man  of  remarkable  gentleness  and 
piety,  a  diligent  student,  and  distinguished  for  the  purity  and 
clearness  of  his  style  as  a  preacher.  We  shall  often  see  him 
in  the  progress  of  this  history,  since  he  was  from  this  time  to 
that  of  his  death  constantly  engaged  in  the  Georgia  work.* 

Anderson  Ray,  who  was  this  year  on  the  Warren  Circuit,  was 
for  a  long  time  a  useful  traveling  and  local  preacher.  He  was  a 
man  of  moderate  gifts,  but  of  great  industry  and  piety.  The 
corps  of  preachers  in  Georgia  was  not  at  this  time  remarkable 
for  mental  power.  There  were  some  men  of  excellent  capacities, 
but  the  most  of  the  preachers  were  young  and  inexperienced  men, 
of  ordinary  ability,  and  either  from  this  or  some  other  cause  to 
us  unknown  the  Church  continued  to  lose  ground,  and  a  further 
decrease  of  500  members  was  reported  this  year.  The  next  con- 
ference was  to  meet  in  January,  181 8,  and  was  to  have  met  in 
Louisville,  but  the  appointment  was  changed  to  Augusta,  and  it 
met  in  that  city.  Bishops  McKendree  and  Roberts  were  present. 
James  Norton,  whom  we  remember  as  one  of  the  early  workers 
in  lower  Georgia,  was  the  traveling  companion  of  Bishop  Mc- 
Kendree. The  Bishop  and  himself  had  left  the  seat  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi conference  attended  by  Thomas  Griffin,  who  conducted 
them  as  far  as  Fort  Claiborne,  in  the  Tombigbee  country.  They 
then  entered  the  Indian  country.  The  creeks  and  rivers  were 
high,  and  the  country  for  miles  was  inundated.  After  many 
perils,  in  one  of  which  they  narrowly  escaped  being  drowned, 
they  reached  the  east  bank  of  the  Chattahoochee,  and,  although 
the  Indians  were  not  peaceable,  made  their  way  safely  to  the 
white  settlements.  They  finally  reached  the  hospitable  home  of 
John  Lucas,  near  Sparta,  and,  in  company  with  Lewis  Myers, 
reached  Augusta.  "There  was,"  says  Bishop  Paine,  in  his  Life 
of  McKendree,  "some  delicate  and  eventful  business,  which  was 
attended  to.  What  this  was  we  can  not  tell."  This  conference 
met  January  27,  i8i8.f 

During  this  year  Hope  Hull  followed  Asbury  to  Heaven.  He 
had  been  a  local  preacher  for  twenty-five  years,  but  had  been  a 
zealous  worker  for  the  Church  all  the  time.  Hull  was  in  all  re- 
spects a  great  man.  In  person  he  had  a  large  body  and  short  limbs. 
He  had  a  large,  commanding  head,  a  fine  eye,  and  exceedingly 
bushy  eyebrows. $  He  was  a  man  of  quick  decision  and  of  great 
firmness.  Like  most  great  men,  he  possessed  striking  peculiari- 
ties, some  of  them  relating  to  little  things.     One  of  these  was 


•Minutes.     tPaine's  Life  of  McKendree.     }Dr.  Pierce,  in  Sprague. 


JUDGE  A.  B.  LONGSTREET, 

President  Emory  College. 


REV.  LOVICK  PIERCE,  D.  D. 


Georgia  Methodism.  135 

always  to  wear  an  old  hat.  As  old  as  Father's  Hull's  hat,  was  a 
proverb  in  Northeast  Georgia.*  His  clothing  was  always  too 
large  for  him,  especially  his  boots.  Once,  the  story  goes,  he 
complained  of  a  pebble  in  his  boot;  when  he  drew  it  off,  it  had 
in  it  a  small  pair  of  candle-snuffers.  He  had  remarkable  pene- 
tration, and  was  thought  to  possess  the  power  of  discerning 
spirits.  One  day  in  class  he  met  a  man  who  said  he  was  like 
old  David,  and  had  his  infirmities.  "Yes,"  said  Father  Hull, 
"and  I  am  afraid  you  are  like  old  Noah  too — get  drunk  some- 
times, "f  It  was  a  centre  shot,  for  the  man  was  much  given  to  the 
bottle.  He  had  great  influence  with  the  leading  men  of  the  State, 
and  the  State  University  owed  much  to  his  fostering  care.  He 
bequeathed  his  name  and  his  virtues  to  his  children,  one  of  whom, 
Asbury  Hull,  was  a  leading  lawyer  and  statesman  in  Georgia, 
and  another,  Dr.  Henry  Hull,  once  professor  in  the  University, 
a  useful  Methodist  of  Athens. 

It  was  now  necessary  to  make  some  changes  in  the  district 
presidents :  Joseph  Tarpley  took  the  Oconee  District,  and  Saml. 
K.  Hodges  was  placed  on  the  Ogeechee;  Lewis  Myers  was  sent 
to  Charleston;  Nicholas  Talley  came  to  Georgia  again,  to  the 
important  Sparta  Circuit,  and  James  Dunwoody,  just  admitted, 
was  sent  with  him  as  junior  preacher.  James  Dunwoody  was 
living  in  1875,  although  he  had  then  been  for  many  years,  against 
his  will,  superannuated.  He  was  a  long  time  a  very  devoted, 
laborious,  and  self-sacrificing  preacher,  whom  we  shall  often  see. 
During  this  year  Samuel  Dunwoody  came  from  South  Carolina, 
and  preached  a  stirring  and  able  sermon  on  the  love  of  money. 
He  attributed  nearly  all  the  evils  which  the  world  had  known  to 
covetousness,  and  especially  charged  the  decline  of  Methodism 
to  this  source.  Solomon  said  in  his  day  there  were  those  who 
said  erroneously  the  old  days  were  best ;  and  though  Mr.  Wesley 
endorsed  Solomon,  he  said  sadly,  before  his  death,  that  the  Meth- 
odists were  no  longer  what  they  were.  And  still  the  same  cry 
is  heard ;  but  there  seems  to  have  been  much  truth  in  Dunwoody's 
statement,  for  there  was  another  year  of  decline,  and  another 
loss  of  500  members.  For  now  nearly  eight  years  there  had  been 
only  decline.  The  churches  lost  in  members  and  lost  spiritual 
power.  Even  the  Apalachee  Circuit — to  which  Dunwoody  was 
sent,  Barnet's  health  having  failed — although  one  of  the  best  in 
the  conference,  was  in  a  cold,  dead  state. 

Hodges,  the  new  presiding  elder,  was  eminently  fitted  for  the 


'Bishop  Andrew,  in  Sprague.     tlbid. 


136  History  of 

office.  He  preached  well,  and  in  managing  a  district  had  few 
superiors.  He  was  about  six  feet  high,  of  sallow  complexion, 
dark  eyes,  was  very  fluent  in  speech,  and  his  judgment  was  of 
the  best  order.  He  had  entered  the  conference  with  Jas.  O. 
Andrew,  and  nominated  him  for  the  episcopal  office,  to  which 
he  was  elected. 

Elisha  Callaway  was  junior  preacher  on  the  Satilla  Circuit. 
This  was  a  hard  circuit,  and  Callaway  rarely  had  any  other  kind. 
He  was  an  admirable  frontiersman,  warm-hearted,  cheerful, 
courageous.  He  was  a  man  of  rare  ability  of  character,  full  of 
generosity  and  tenderness.     He  transferred  finally  to  Alabama. 

The  conference  met  in  Camden,  Bishop  Roberts  presiding.  A 
new  district  was  now  laid  out,  consisting  of  circuits  which  had 
previously  been  in  the  Ogeechee  and  Oconee  Districts.  It  was 
called  the  Athens  District.  Joseph  Tarpley  was  placed  upon  it. 
It  consisted  of  the  Broad  River,  Grove,  Apalachee,  Alcovi,  and 
Sparta  Circuits.  The  Grove  Circuit  is  the  only  one  of  these  cir- 
cuits whose  boundaries  we  have  not  endeavored  to  indicate.  It 
consisted  of  those  churches  and  preaching-places  which  were  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  State,  bordering  on  the  Indian  Nation. 
The  present  counties  of  Hart,  Madison,  Franklin,  Jackson,  and 
a  part  of  Clarke,  were  included  in  it.  David  Garrison,  an  elder, 
was  this  year  in  charge  of  it.  He  had  been  a  local  preacher  for 
several  years  before  he  joined  the  conference,  having  been 
licensed  in  1806.  He  traveled  consecutively  for  ten  years,  and 
when  his  health  gave  way  he  was  superannuated,  and  continued 
in  that  relation  until  the  year  1842,  when  he  died.  He  was  a 
sober,  pious,  humble  Christian,  a  plain,  practical,  spiritual,  and 
useful  preacher,  a  great  lover  of  the  doctrines  and  discipline  of 
the  Church.  His  voice  failed  him  ere  his  consciousness,  and 
he  signified  that  all  was  well  by  raising  his  hand.* 

\Y.  B.  Barnett  was  presiding  elder  of  the  Oconee  District, 
which  included  only  five  circuits,  but  they  embraced  all  the  west- 
ern and  lower  parts  of  the  State.  Samuel  K.  Hodges  had  the 
Ogeechee  District.  Asbury  Morgan  was  in  charge  of  the  Ohoo- 
pee  and  Darien  Circuits.  He  was  now  a  deacon,  and  had  traveled 
two  circuits  in  South  Carolina  before  he  came  to  Georgia.  He 
was  born  in  Mecklenburg  County,  Virginia,  Aug.  25,  1797,  and 
before  his  twenty-first  year  was  a  traveling  preacher.  He  ad- 
vanced rapidly,  and  after  he  had  traveled  ten  years,  while  sta- 
tioned in  Charleston,  he  died  of  the  stranger  fever,  the  25th  of 

*Rev.  W.  J.  Parks. 


Georgia  Methodism.  137 

September,  1828.  He  was  not  a  man  of  splendid  talents,  but  was 
acceptable  and  useful.*  His  widow  long  survived  him,  and  one 
of  his  daughters  became  the  wife  of  J.  Blakely  Smith,  who  was 
himself  a  useful  traveling  preacher,  and  was  long  secretary  of 
Georgia  and  South  Georgia  Conferences,  and  who  died  while 
he  was  presiding  elder  of  the  Americus  District,  in  1871. 

Raleigh  Green,  another  young  man,  was  junior  preacher  on 
the  Apalachee  Circuit.  He  traveled  only  a  few  years,  and  then 
located ;  afterwards,  when  an  old  man,  he  returned  to  the  work, 
and  in  it  he  died.  He  was  engaged  in  worldly  business,  and, 
like  most  preachers,  was  not  successful,  but  preserved  his  Chris- 
tian character  in  the  midst  of  his  losses. f 

George  Hill,  the  junior  preacher  on  the  Warren  Circuit,  was 
destined  to  an  early  grave,  but  to  a  life  of  great  usefulness  be- 
fore he  was  called  away.  He  was  born  in  Charleston,  and  was 
the  son  of  Paul  Hill,  Esq.  He  was  a  brilliant  boy,  and  began  to 
preach  at  twenty  years  old.  He  traveled  for  only  nine  years, 
but  in  that  time  was  placed  in  the  most  important  charges.  He 
was  a  powerful  and  an  eminently  successful  preacher. 

Mathew  Raiford  was  received  this  year.  He  was  only  nine- 
teen years  old.  He  traveled  several  years  in  South  Carolina,  and 
afterwards  on  some  of  the  hardest  circuits  in  Georgia.  He  went 
as  an  assistant  to  Isaac  Smith  on  the  Creek  Mission.  He  was 
a  faithful  man  all  his  life,  and  "though  sorely  afflicted  in  his 
last  years,  retained  his  Christian  confidence  strong  to  the  end. 
He  died  at  Dr.  James  Thweat's,  in  Monroe  County,  in  his  fifty- 
third  year."  Asbury  Morgan  visited  Darien,  then  a  prosperous 
town  at  the  mouth  of  the  Altamaha,  this  year.  It  had  been  set- 
tled in  1735  by  the  Scotch  Highlanders,  but  the  settlement  had 
been  broken  up ;  but  now,  as  cotton  sought  shipment  from  the 
interior  by  way  of  the  largest  river  in  the  State,  the  town  at 
its  mouth  was  growing  in  importance.  The  use  of  the  only 
church  in  it  was  refused  to  the  Methodists;  but  Morgan  secured 
a  counting-house  near  the  river,  and  a  plank  was  made  a  bridge 
from  the  bluff;  when  the  worshippers  were  molested,  the  plank 
was  used  as  a  drawbridge.  In  1831,  Brother  Shackleford,  a 
devoted  Methodist,  moved  to  the  place,  and  a  church  was  soon 
built,  and  a  revival  followed — the  first  in  Darien. $ 

Jno.  L.  Jerry  was  a  junior  preacher  on  the  Broad  River  Cir- 
cuit this  year.  He  was  of  French  descent,  his  father  having 
come  over  with  General  La  Fayette,  to  assist  the  American  colo- 

*Minutes.     tlbid.     JDr.  Myers,  in  S.  C.  Advocate. 


138  History  of 

nies.  He  joined  the  Church  when  young,  and  entered  the  con- 
ference at  twenty-five  years  of  age.  He  was  on  the  frontier 
most  of  his  life,  traveling  the  hardest  circuits  in  East  and  West 
Florida.  In  1827,  after  ten  years'  work,  he  married,  and  located 
and  settled  in  East  Florida.  After  seven  years  in  retirement, 
he  re-entered  the  traveling  connection,  and  remained  in  it  till 
he  died.  He  died  of  congestion  of  the  brain  in  1859.  He  was 
a  very  brave  and  a  very  self-sacrificing  man,  and  one  of  great 
faith.  On  one  occasion,  at  St.  Augustine,  he  was  threatened  by 
a  priest  with  imprisonment.*  He  fearlessly  pointed  to  the  Ameri- 
can flag,  and  defied  him.  At  another  time,  as  he  was  riding 
alone  through  the  Florida  wilds,  he  found  himself  near  a  ferry, 
without  means  to  pay  for  crossing.  Dismounting,  he  prayed  to 
God  for  help,  and  on  his  way  back  to  his  horse  found  a  Spanish 
doubloon.  He  was  not  an  educated  man,  but  a  man  of  great 
common  sense,  and  was  very  successful  in  his  work.  His  name 
is  precious  to  Florida  Methodists. 

The  Ogeechee  District  was  now  enlarged  by  the  addition  of 
the  Black  Swamp  Circuit  in  South  Carolina. 

The  chapter  now  drawing  towards  its  end  is  one  of  the  saddest 
in  the  history  of  Methodism  in  Georgia.  There  had  been  no 
advance,  but  a  constant  and  painful  decline.  The  State  was 
prosperous,  but  the  Church  was  never  less  so.  So  the  minute 
figures  say,  and  we  have  no  access  to  other  sources,  for  we  are 
possessed  of  less  information  concerning  this  time  than  of  any 
period  before  or  since.  The  Methodist  Magazine  began  its  life 
in  1818,  but  there  is  in  it  no  news  of  Georgia  work.  Better  times 
were  coming.  During  the  year  1819  Bishop  Capers,  who  was 
stationed  in  Savannah,  writes  that  Warren  County,  in  which  John 
Mote  and  Jno.  L.  Jerry  were  the  preachers,  was  in  a  flame 
throughout,  and  at  the  camp-meeting  there  were  over  one  hun- 
dred converted,  and  over  two  hundred  had  joined  the  Church. 
There  was  a  great  revival  in  Augusta,  under  Henry  Bass,  and 
altogether  a  better  promise  in  the  conference. 

John  Simmons  was  on  the  Apalachee  Circuit  this  year,  and 
received  another  appointment,  when  he  located.  He  was  zealous, 
simple-hearted,  and  devotedly  pious,  and  labored  cheerfully  as 
long  as  he  lived.  He  located  and  did  good  work  in  Butts  and 
Pike  Counties ;  after  the  settlement  of  Oxford,  he  fixed  his  home 
there,  and  there  educated  his  sons :  Dr.  Jas.  P.  Simmons,  now 
dead,  who  was  a  useful  layman ;  the  Rev.  W.  A.   Simmons,  of 

*Minutes. 


Georgia  Methodism.  139 

the  North  Georgia,  and  the  Rev.  Jno.  C.  Simmons,  of  the 
Pacific  Conference.  During  the  year,  for  the  first  time  in  sev- 
eral, there  was  some  increase,  the  minutes  reporting  7,166  whites 
against  7,083  of  the  year  before. 

Wm.  Capers  was  in  Savannah  this  year,  and  Henry  Bass  in 
Augusta,  and  in  both  of  these  cities  there  was  decided  improve- 
ment  in   church   matters. 

The  conference  met  in  Charleston,  January  13,  1820. 

Bishop  George  presided.  He  was  among  his  old  friends  and 
co-laborers.  Over  twenty  years  before  he  had  left  South  Caro- 
lina and  Georgia,  after  having  done  noble  work  in  them,  and 
now  he  returns  to  his  old  home  with  the  highest  office  in  the  gift 
of  the  Church.  James  Dunwoody,  who  was  received  at  this  con- 
ference into  full  connection,  says  of  the  Bishop :  "He  was  greatly 
animated,  and  I  think  I  have  scarcely  ever  known  a  more  thrill- 
ing or  solemn  season."* 

The  three  districts  retain  their  shape;  but  Burnett,  who  was  in 
the  Wire-Grass  Country,  and  whose  health  had  failed  him,  re- 
tired, and  James  Norton  took  his  place.  He  had  been  the  pio- 
neer in  this  region  years  before,  and  had  first  proclaimed  the 
Gospel  to  its  scattered  inhabitants.  He  had  been  hard  at  work, 
honored  by  his  brethren  with  successive  seats  in  the  General 
Conference,  and  deeply  beloved  by  his  Bishops,  especially  by 
McKendree,  with  whom  he  had  been  a  traveling  companion. 
James  O.  Andrew  was  sent  to  Augusta.  It  was  his  eighth  ap- 
pointment. He  had  developed  wonderfully  as  a  preacher,  and 
had  now  a  wife  and  two  children,  and  was  the  first  married 
preacher  ever  stationed  in  that  city. 

Thomas  Samford,  who  was  at  work  in  Georgia,  this  year  began 
a  ministerial  life,  which  continued  till  his  death  nearly  fifty  years 
afterwards.  He  was  a  poor  boy,  the  son  of  a  widowed  mother. 
Placed  in  the  family  of  a  good  South  Carolina  Methodist,  he 
was  converted,  and  his  faithfulness  in  his  duties  kept  him  with 
them  for  some  years.  He  came  to  Georgia  and  became  a  preacher. 
He  possessed  a  mind  of  very  fine  texture,  and  was  a  diligent 
student.  He  was  a  small  man,  retiring,  absent-minded,  timid, 
but  remarkable  for  his  pulpit  gifts.  Few  men  have  had  higher 
repute  for  the  pulpit  power  than  he  had.  He  was  placed  on  the 
best  circuits,  stations,  and  districts  while  in  Georgia.  He  after- 
wards transferred  to  Louisiana,  and  thence  to  Texas,  where  dur- 
ing the  war  he  died.     He  was  noted  for  his  gentleness  and  his 


*Dunwoody's  Life. 


140  History  of 

charitableness,  and  was  universally  beloved.     We  shall  see  him 
often. 

At  this  conference,  the  delegates  to  the  General  Conference 
of  1820  were  elected.  They  were:  Sam'l  Dun  woody,  Wm.  Ken- 
nedy, Joseph  Travis,  James  Norton,  Lewis  Myers,  Daniel  As- 
bury,  Wm.  Capers,  James  O.  Andrew,  and  Sam'l  K.  Hodges ;  of 
these  every  one  except  Father  Asbury  had  traveled  in  Georgia. 
It  was  a  large  and  very  able  delegation,  and  it  was  well  that  it 
was  so,  for  there  were  trying  days  just  ahead.  McCaine  was 
elected  secretary,  and  the  Bishops  presided  in  turn.  The  im- 
portant Committee  on  Episcopacy  was  elected  by  ballot,  and 
Lewis  Myers  was  again  placed  upon  it.  Wm.  Capers  was  placed 
on  the  committee  to  consider  the  local  preacher  question,  and 
Kennedy  was  chairman  on  the  Sunday-school  Committee.  The 
session  was  long  and  stormy.  Some  cases  of  appeal  from  the 
Baltimore  Conference,  which  had  located  two  traveling  preach- 
ers without  their  consent,  called  out  the  strong  men.  Wm.  Capers 
on  the  side  of  the  appellants,  and  Stephen  George  Roszell,  in 
defense  of  the  conference,  the  other.  Then  came  the  election 
of  a  Bishop,  and  Joshua  Soule  was  elected  over  Nathan  Bangs. 
James  Axley  brought  forward  the  slavery  question,  as  he  always 
brought  forward  something  to  excite  discussion.  It  was  left 
as  before.  By  far  the  most  exciting  and  important  measure  was 
the  proposal  for  the  election  of  presiding  elders.  From  1808,  at 
every  general  conference,  this  measure  had  been  presented,  and 
three  times  it  had  been  rejected.  It  was  now,  however,  brought 
forward  again  by  D.  Ostrander,  of  New  York,  and  finally  car- 
ried ;  with  this  action  of  the  body  McKendree  and  Soule  were 
much  displeased.  They  believed  it  an  unconstitutional,  and  a 
radical  and  dangerous  change.  Soule  refused  to  be  ordained 
a  Bishop  while  this  law  remained  in  the  discipline,  and  McKen- 
dree refused  to  carry  out  the  measure  until  the  conferences  should 
decide  by  a  three-fourths  vote  that  they  desired  it.  Those  ques- 
tions of  the  power  of  the  general  conference,  which  were  to  be 
so  ably  discussed  in  1844,  were  now  for  the  first  time  broached. 
Apprehending  serious  trouble,  the  execution  of  the  law  was  by 
vote  of  the  conference  suspended  until  1824;  and  as  Soule  re- 
fused the  office,  no  other  Bishop  was  elected,  and  after  a  most 
exciting  session  the  body  adjourned. 

James  O.  Andrew  was  a  silent  member  of  this  conference,  the 
first  to  which  he  had  been  elected  as  a  delegate,  and  the  only 
member  of  the  South  Carolina  delegation  who  took  active  part 
in  the  discussions  was  Wm.  Capers. 


Georgia  Methodism.  141 

The  next  South  Carolina  Conference  met  January  n,  1821, 
in  Columbia,  S.  C.  Bishop  George  was  again  president,  though 
Bishop  McKendree  was  with  him. 

At  this  conference  Joseph  Tarpley,  after  a  most  useful  career, 
located,  and  the  Athens  District  had  a  new  presiding  elder;  this 
was  Isaac  Smith,  one  of  the  earliest  of  the  Methodist  preachers 
in  South  Carolina,  and  one  whom  we  have  already  mentioned  as 
having  been  present  at  the  first  Georgia  Conference  in  1788. 

He  was  a  Virginian  by  birth,  the  grandson  of  an  Episcopal 
minister.  His  father,  Thomas  Smith,  was  a  farmer  in  Kent 
County,  Virginia,  and  died  while  his  son  was  still  small.  When 
the  Revolutionary  war  commenced,  he  entered  the  army  and 
served  with  Washington  and  La  Fayette  for  three  years.  He 
was  an  orderly  sergeant,  and  was  so  well  known  by  La  Fayette, 
that  when  the  Marquis  was  in  America,  on  meeting  him  at  his 
mission,  near  Columbus,  the  ardent  Frenchman  caught  him  in 
his  arms,  and  the  old  soldier,  now  a  missionary,  after  asking  his 
old  commander  about  his  prospects  for  Heaven,  commended  him 
to  God  in  prayer.  He  had  been  well  taught  the  Episcopal  cate- 
chism, but  knew  nothing  of  personal  religion  until  after  the  Revo- 
lution was  over.  He  saw  it  manifest  among  the  Baptists  of 
Norfolk,  and  soon  after  heard  Asbury  preach.  He  was  con- 
verted, and  in  1783  began  to  preach,  and  in  1784  entered  the  con- 
ference at  Ellis'  Meeting-house,  in  Virginia.  He  traveled  in  Vir- 
ginia and  North  Carolina  for  two  years,  then  came  southward 
for  twelve  years ;  he  was  a  most  laborious  traveling  preacher. 
During  that  time  he  married  Ann  Gilman,  a  cousin  of  James 
Rembert,  and,  when  his  family  cares  forbade  his  traveling,  lo- 
cated and  settled  in  Camden,  S.  C.  He  was  the  father  of 
Methodism  in  the  town.  His  home  was  the  stopping-place 
of  all  the  preachers.  He  was  the  trusted  friend  of  Asbury, 
McKendree,  George,  and  Soule.  Asbury  visited  him  every  year 
from  the  time  of  his  election  as  Bishop,  till  his  death.  He  was 
much  loved  and  honored.  In  his  house  Bishop  Capers  made 
his  first  public  prayer,  and  he  and  two  others  entertained  the 
South  Carolina  Conference  at  its  first  meeting  in  Camden.  After 
a  life  as  a  local  preacher  of  great  usefulness,  he  re-entered  the 
conference  in  1820,  and  remained  in  it  till  his  death  in  1832.  At 
the  time  of  his  appointment  to  the  Athens  District,  he  was  about 
sixty  years  old.  He  was  selected  the  next  year  to  take  charge 
of  the  mission  to  the  Creek  Indians  at  Fort  Mitchell,  near  the 
present  city  of  Columbus.  He  won  the  affections  of  the  red  men, 
and  labored  among  them  with  some  success.    After  several  years 


142  History  of 

in  the  wilds  he  was  superannuated,  and  spent  the  remainder  of 
his  life  in  such  labor  as  he  could  do,  visiting  as  far  west  as  the 
Natchez  Country,  where  his  daughter  Mary,  the  wife  of  Hope 
Lenoir,  was  living.  He  returned  to  Georgia,  and  died  in  Monroe 
County,  at  the  residence  of  Whitman  C.  Hill,  who  had  married 
his  daughter  Jane.  When  asked  on  his  dying  bed  how  it  was 
with  him,  he  repeated  the  beautiful  lines  of  Wesley,  as  with  his 
clasped  hands  he  looked  toward  the  sky : 

"There  is  my  house  and  portion  fair, 

My  treasure  and  my  heart  are  there, 

And  my  Eternal  home. 

For  me  my  older  brethren  stay, 

And  angels  beckon  me  away, 

And  Jesus  bids  me  come." 

Few  since  the  days  of  the  Apostle  John  have  been  more  holy 
and  lovable  than  this  old  soldier.  Rising  at  four  in  the  morn- 
ing, he  spent  the  time  in  prayer,  singing  and  reading  the  Bible 
until  six  o'clock.  He  was  called  the  St.  John  of  the  Carolina 
Conference.  His  two  sons,  Isaac  Henry  and  James  Rembert, 
were  local  preachers  of  fine  ability;  one  of  them,  Dr.  James  Rem- 
bert Smith,  was  living  in  1875.  The  other,  after  years  of  useful 
labor,  died  about  1870.  Several  of  his  grandsons  are  also  travel- 
ling preachers.  He  was  a  man  of  dignified  and  gentle  bearing; 
he  had  a  good  English  education,  and  while  a  plain  preacher, 
was  an  earnest  and  acceptable  one.  The  South  Carolina  Con- 
ference was  so  much  attached  to  him,  that,  when  the  conference 
was  divided,  although  their  old  father  was  in  the  Georgia  terri- 
tory, they  would  not  allow  him  to  be  transferred,  but  retained 
his  name  till  the  last. 

He  was  devoted  to  the  religious  teaching  of  the  negroes  and 
the  Indians,  and  was  so  esteemed  by  the  negroes,  that,  in  a  time 
when  all  the  white  men  were  doomed  by  the  rebellious  blacks  to 
death,  the  only  ground  upon  which  they  consented  to  the  massacre 
of  Father  Smith  was  that  it  would  be  kindness  to  him  to  send 
him  to  Heaven.  While  he  was  on  the  Athens  District,  he  licensed 
Wm.  J.  Parks  to  preach.  Of  him  we  shall  have  much  to  say 
in  the  future  of  this  history.* 

Jno.  B.  Chappel.  just  admitted  into  full  connection,  was  this 
year  on  the  Grove  Circuit.  He  was  born  in  Lincoln  County, 
Ga.,  and  was  converted  when  twenty-three  years  old.     He  was 

*Sprague's  Annals,  and  Stevens'  History. 


Georgia  Methodism.  143 

first  a  local  preacher,  and  entered  the  conference  in  1819.  He 
was  a  very  acceptable  and  useful  preacher,  preaching  by  day 
when  he  could  get  a  congregation,  and  by  night  when  they  would 
not  come  out  by  day.  In  all  his  circuits  he  was  blessed  with 
gracious  success,  and  revivals  followed  his  ministry.  He  broke 
down  in  the  work,  and  settled  in  Oglethorpe  County.  After 
returning  from  a  camp-meeting  in  Elbert,  he  was  taken  suddenly 
ill,  and  died  praising  his  Redeemer  to  the  last.* 

During  this  year  Wm.  Capers  was  much  in  Georgia.  He  had 
been  selected  to  establish  a  mission  among  the  Creeks,  and  was 
to  raise  funds  for  the  purpose.  He  went  twice  to  the  Nation, 
spending  the  intervals  soliciting  contributions  to  the  society. f 
How  well  he  succeeded  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  the  South 
Carolina  Conference  paid  into  the  missionary  treasury  more  than 
all  the  conferences  together — all  of  New  England  paying  but 
seventy-nine  dollars,  and  South  Carolina  Conference  alone 
$1,3744  His  heart  was  in  the  work,  and  the  zeal  with  which  he 
labored  was  inspiration  to  all. 

One  new  circuit  was  made  in  the  Wire-Grass  Country,  called 
in  the  minutes  Lapahee.  It  should  be  Alapaha.  It  joined  the  lit- 
tle Ocmulgee  on  the  north,  and  extended  to  the  Florida  line  in 
the  south.  J.  J.  Triggs,  an  Englishman  by  birth,  was  placed  in 
charge  of  it.  He  was  possessed  of  decided  ability,  and  did  good 
work.  After  traveling  a  few  years,  he  located,  and  resided  in 
Burke  County  till  his  death. 

James  Dunwoody  was  on  the  Little  Ocmulgee  Circuit.  He 
says  that  it  was  a  three-weeks'  circuit  for  one  preacher.  The 
population  was  sparse,  the  rides  were  long.  The  people  were 
very  poor,  living  in  log  huts;  and  often  during  cold  winter  nights, 
as  he  slept  in  these  cabins,  the  wind  poured  in  upon  his  head  all 
night  long.  In  windy  weather  the  wind  blew  down  the  large 
stick-and-dirt  chimneys,  and  mixed  lumps  of  clay  and  soot  with 
the  not  enticing  food.  The  country  was  much  infested  with  flies 
and  mosquitoes,  but  the  young  itinerant,  sick  and  weary  as  he 
was,  did  his  work  until  conference.  This  was  but  a  specimen  of 
the  work  in  Norton's  District.  This  district  extended  from  near 
Milledgeville  to  St.  Mary's,  and  Norton  himself  broke  down  un- 
der the  labor.  || 

During  the  year  there  was  no  increase,  but  a  decrease  of  over 
four  hundred  members.     The  conference  met  in  Augusta,  Janu- 

*Obituary  notice  in  Minutes.     tWightman.     tMethodist  Magazine  for  1824. 
||  Dunwoody  's  Memoir. 


144  History  of 

ary,   1822,  Bishops  McKendree  and  George  presiding.     A  very 
great  change  was  made  in  the  line  of  the  white  settlements  in 
Georgia  by  the  acquisition  of  new  and  valuable  territory   from 
the    Indians.      This    rendered   the    extension    of    the    conference 
boundary  needful,  but  this  was  not   done   until  the  next   year. 
John  Howard,  who  came  to  Georgia  the  year  before,  and  who 
was  stationed  in  Savannah,  was  in  Augusta  this  year.     He  was 
from  North  Carolina,  and  was  born  in  1792,  and  at  this  time  was 
thirty  years  old.     After  receiving  an   excellent   common   school 
education,  he  entered  the  store  of  his  brother,  Henry  B.  Howard, 
of  Wilmington,  N.  C.,  where  he  was  carefully  trained  as  a  mer- 
chant.   The  Methodists  in  Wilmington  at  that  time  were  an  hum- 
ble and  despised  sect,  and  although  his  mother  had  been  con- 
verted years  previously,  under  the  ministry  of  LeRoy  Cole  in  Vir- 
ginia, she  had  not  been  able  to  withstand  the  opposition  she  had 
met  with,  and  was  living  out  of  the  church.    One  day  as  he,  a  boy 
of  sixteen,  was  passing  by,  he  saw  a  group  of  people  gathered 
under  a  tree.    He  drew  near,  and  heard  a  colored  man  preaching.* 
This  was  probably  Henry  Evans.     He  was  convicted  under  the 
plain  man's  preaching,  and  sought  and  obtained  the  pardon  of  his 
sins.     He  became  an  active  and  valuable  member  of  the  Church, 
and  from  being  a  class-leader  was  licensed  to  exhort.     He  was 
a  successful  merchant.     A  happy  family  was  growing  up  around 
him,  when  an  unexpected,  and  as  he  regarded  it,  an  imperative 
call  of  Providence  came  to  him  to  leave  all  and  follow  his  Master 
in  the  work  of  the  ministry.     John  McYean  had  been  stationed 
in  Georgetown ;  he  seems  to  have  been  a  good  man,  but  would 
now  and  then  be  overcome  by  an  old  weakness  for  wine.     While 
in  Georgetown  he  fell,  and  Joseph  Travis  came  to  John  Howard 
with  an  earnest  request  that  he  would  take  his  placet     He  did 
so.     The  next  year  he  entered  the  conference,  and  in  it  he  died. 
He  was,  when  he  began  to  travel,  about  twenty-five  years  old. 
He  was  a  man  of  very  handsome  person,  of  rather  stout  frame, 
florid   complexion,   clear  blue   eyes,   and   raven  black  hair.      He 
was  very  fluent  and  earnest,  and  had  a  fine  voice,  and  was  a 
sweet  singer;  an  accomplished  gentleman  in  manner,  very  earn- 
est and  energetic,  he  at  once  was  very  successful  and  popular. 
He  rose  rapidly  in  the  conference,  and  after  having  been  on  one 
circuit,  and  then  in  Charleston  and  Georgetown,  he  came  to  Geor- 
gia.    He  was  eminently  useful  in  Savannah  ;  afterwards  he  was 
in  Augusta,  where  the  same  success  attended  him.     He  then  re- 

*His  own  Memoranda,      t  Travis. 


Georgia  Methodism.  145 

turned  to  South  Carolina,  where,  after  having  been  stationed  for 
three  years,  he  located,  and  taught  school  in  Charleston.  He 
removed  to  Georgia  and  re-entered  the  conference  in  1828.  In 
1830  he  removed  to  the  young  city  of  Macon,  in  which  he  re- 
mained till  the  time  of  his  death  in  1836.  He  was  a  man  of 
fine  business  qualification,  and  was  secretary  of  the  Georgia 
Conference  when  he  died.  Twice  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  gen- 
eral conference,  and  in  the  Cincinnati  General  Conference,  the 
May  before  his  death,  made  an  impressive  and  effective  speech 
against  abolitionism. 

Few  men  ever  labored  in  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  who 
have  left  a  better  record.  His  education,  if  not  advanced,  was 
excellent  as  far  as  it  went,  and  his  English  was  pure  and  elegant. 
He  was  full  of  zeal  and  fire — one  who  knew  how  to  move  the 
hearts  of  men — a  master  of  sacred  song,  and  wherever  he  went 
the  revival  influence  went  with  him.  Savannah,  Augusta,  Greens- 
boro, Washington,  Milledgeville,  and  Macon,  were  specially 
indebted  to  him.  He  had  entered  the  conference  from  the  purest 
motives  and  at  great  personal  cost,  as  far  as  this  world  was 
concerned.  He  was  much  esteemed  by  all,  and  especially  by  the 
people  of  Macon,  who  erected  a  monument  over  his  grave. 

On  the  Sparta  Circuit,  with  Thomas  Sam  ford,  the  minutes 
place  Wra.  Parks.  He  was  afterwards  well  known  under  his 
full  name  of  Wm.  J.  Parks.  He  was  the  son  of  Henry  Parks, 
whom  we  have  seen  as  one  of  the  first  converts  to  Methodism 
in  Georgia. 

He  had  been  reared  in  the  backwoods,  and  had  no  educational 
advantages  save  such  as  the  old  field-school  gave.  He  gave  in 
his  short  autobiography  an  account  of  his  first  school.  The 
teacher  was  an  old  drunkard.  One  day  the  boys  turned  him  out, 
and  after  they  had  beaten  and  tied  him,  and  smeared  him  with 
mud,  he  surrendered,  and  gave  the  school  a  treat,  which  was 
a  gallon  of  zvhiskcy,  which  he  drank  with  his  scholars.  He  soon 
went  as  far  as  an  old  field-school  would  allow,  and  then  went 
to  the  new  Methodist  school  at  Salem,  to  study  grammar.  Here 
he  was  licensed  to  preach. 

A  more  unpolished  country  lad  has  rarely  appeared  before  a 
quarterly  conference  for  license  to  preach.  His  skin  was  as 
dark  as  an  Indian's,  and  his  hair  as  straight.  His  manners  were 
simple  and  unpretending,  and  when  he  joined  the  conference,  he 
had  known  but  little  of  life,  save  what  he  had  seen  in  the  quiet 
settlement  in  which  he  had  been  reared.  He  was  twenty-three, 
and  already  married.     His  wife  was  in  every  way  suited  to  him, 


146  History  of 

and  much  of  his  usefulness  and  success  was  owing  to  the  ster- 
ling character  and  deep  piety  of  his  good  Naomi.  He  was  sent 
to  the  Sparta  Circuit,  a  long  way  from  his  up-country  home. 
Thomas  Samford  was  his  senior  preacher.  The  Sparta  Circuit 
at  that  time  included  in  its  boundaries  some  of  the  best  lands 
in  the  State,  and  many  of  the  people  in  it  were  rich  and  aris- 
tocratic. He  says  but  little  of  his  first  year;  but  his  second, 
when  alone  among  a  people  who  knew  him  and  could  value  him, 
was  a  year  of  triumph.  Of  his  work  here  on  the  Gwinnett 
Mission,  our  history  will  tell.  He  labored  on,  improving  every 
day,  making  his  power  more  and  more  felt.  After  traveling  for 
three  years,  receiving  scarcely  any  pay,  he  located,  that  he  might 
better  prepare  himself  to  work  for  nothing,  and  then  returned 
to  the  conference.  He  was  made  a  presiding  elder,  and  soon 
evinced  a  remarkable  fitness  for  the  place.  He  early  won  his 
position  of  leader  on  the  conference  floor,  and  never  lost  it  as  long 
as  he  was  disposed  to  hold  it.  For  two  years  he  was  a  mission- 
ary, for  fourteen  presiding  elder ;  for  four  he  was  stationed ;  he 
was  a  circuit  preacher  for  twelve,  and  an  agent  for  ten.*  Wm. 
J.  Parks  was  in  every  respect  a  remarkable  man.  He  was  na- 
tively endowed  with  a  brain  of  large  size  and  remarkable  bal- 
ance; he  had  no  crotchets.  His  preaching  was  always  clear  as 
sunshine,  and  oftentimes  as  cheering.  His  striking  and  homely 
illustrations,  his  strong  logic,  his  excellent  diction,  his  genuine 
fervor,  all  united  to  make  him  a  most  entertaining  and  profitable 
preacher.  He  called  a  spade  a  spade,  and,  while  not  disposed 
to  controversy,  was  not  afraid  of  it.  His  courage  was  of  the 
finest  type,  whether  it  was  to  maintain  an  unpopular  side  in 
conference  debate,  to  administer  rebuke,  or  to  endure  hardships, 
he  was  brave  enough  for  all.  In  perfect  knowledge  of  Alethodist 
law,  in  skill  in  debate,  he  had  no  superior.  If  defeated,  he  never 
lost  his  good  humor,  but  fell  in  heartily  with  all  the  measures  that 
were  adopted.  He  never  became  a  querulous  old  man — was 
bright  and  cheerful  to  the  last.  He  was  simple  as  simplicity,  and 
always  plain  in  speech  and  dress.  Despising  shams,  he  never 
failed  to  expose  them ;  loving  the  good  and  the  true,  he  never 
failed  to  uphold  it.  He  was  thrice  married,  and  few  men  have 
been  so  blessed  in  married  life.  He  died  in  great  peace,  in  Ox- 
ford, Georgia,  in  December,  1873,  a  few  days  before  the  meet- 
ing of  the  Georgia  Conference,  having  just  entered  his  seventy- 
fourth  year. 


*His  own  MSS. 


Georgia  Methodism.  147 

Isaac  Smith  having  been  chosen  to  superintendent  the  newly 
established  Creek  Mission,  Samuel  K.  Hodges  was  appointed  to 
the  Athens  District.  Allen  Turner  was  made  presiding  elder  on 
the  Oconee.  On  the  Ohoopee  Circuit,  which  included  Emanuel, 
Bullock,  and  Bryan  Counties,  two  young  men  were  placed — 
Thomas  L.  Wynn  and  Peyton  L.  Wade.  Thomas  L.  Wynn  was 
the  father  of  Rev.  Alexander  W.  Wynn,  who  has  been  so  long 
a  time  a  useful  member  of  the  Georgia  Conference,  and  to  him 
we  are  indebted  for  the  following  sketch  of  his  excellent  father. 
Thomas  L.  Wynn  was  also  the  brother-in-law  of  Bishop  An- 
drew, having  married  a  daughter  of  Alexander  McFarlane,  of 
Charleston. 

Thomas  L.  Wynn  was  the  son  of  Samuel  and  Elizabeth  Wynn. 
He  was  born  in  Abbeville  District,  S.  C,  June  27,  1798.  Through 
the  instructions  and  example  of  his  pious  parents,  he  was  in 
early  life  the  subject  of  divine  awakenings  and  convictions,  and 
when  thirteen  years  old  was  most  happily  converted  to  God ; 
but  from  the  influence  of  thoughtless  company  he  afterwards 
lost  his  first  love,  and  was  for  several  years  in  a  lukewarm  state. 
It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  even  prior  to  his  early  con- 
version he  was  impressed  with  the  belief  that  he  would  become  a 
preacher,  which  impression  doubtless  contributed  largely  in  re- 
straining him  from  all  evil  and  immoral  practices,  especially  dur- 
ing the  years  of  his  lukewarmness  and  loss  of  living  faith.  His 
childhood  and  youth  were  passed  without  blemish  and  above  re- 
proach. In  the  autumn  of  181 5  he  was  restored  fully  to  the 
divine  favor  and  became  ever  henceforth  a  serious,  determined, 
and  most  zealous  Christian.  His  impression  that  he  would  be 
called  to  the  ministry  was  now  ripened  into  a  deep  and  settled 
conviction ;  but,  under  perplexities  not  unusual  to  persons  in 
similar  circumstances,  as  well  as  on  account  of  his  youth,  he 
for  some  time  took  no  direct  steps  in  that  direction. 

Finally  he  yielded  to  his  conviction,  formed  his  purpose,  and 
gave  himself  to  the  work  of  God,  and  at  the  close  of  1817  he 
was  licensed  to  preach  and  recommended  as  a  candidate  for 
admission  into  the  South  Carolina  Conference. 

Up  to  this  period  Mr.  Wynn  had  enjoyed  good  health,  but 
during  his  arduous  and  zealous  labors  in  Charleston  his  health 
began  seriously  to  fail,  and  symptoms  of  the  fell  disease  which 
finally  cut  short  his  useful  life  appeared.  On  the  19th  November, 
1823,  he  formed  a  most  happy  union  in  marriage  with  Miss  Sarah 
Harriet  McFarlane,  fourth  daughter  of  Alexander  and  Catha- 
rine McFarlane,  of  Charleston.    His  wife  was  the  sister  of  Bishop 


148  History  of 

Andrew's  first  wife  and  of  Mrs.  John  Mood,  each  of  whose  hus- 
bands were  then  in  the  South  Carolina  Conference,  and  she  was, 
indeed,  in  every  way  well  qualified  for  an  itinerant  preacher's 
wife — amiable,  intelligent,  pure,  pious,  devoted  to  Christ  and 
His  cause,  and  also  beautiful  in  person. 

In  1824  he  was  stationed  in  the  city  of  Savannah,  Ga.,  and 
for  1825  in  Wilmington,  N.  C.  During  both  of  these  years  he 
was  more  or  less  feeble,  and  with  difficulty  performed  all  his 
numerous  duties,  and  at  the  close  of  1825  received  a  superan- 
nuated relation  for  one  year.  Rest  from  constant  labor  and 
preaching,  and  judicious  treatment,  soon  restored  his  health,  and 
for  1827  he  was  stationed  in  Georgetown,  S.  C.  This  year  a 
most  violent  attack  of  bilious  fever  brought  him  near  to  death. 
On  the  7th  of  February  of  this  year — 1827 — he  was  deprived  by 
death  of  the  companionship  of  his  devoted  wife,  leaving  him 
the  charge  of  an  infant  son  three  weeks  old,  whom  God  spared 
and  who  was  for  many  years  a  member  of  the  Georgia  Con- 
ference. 

For  1828  he  was  stationed  in  Camden,  where  his  health  im- 
proved; for  1829  he  was  appointed  to  the  united  towns  of  Wash- 
ington and  Lexington,  in  Georgia,  where  his  health  seemed  fully 
restored.  In  1830  he  was  again  stationed  in  Charleston,  S.  C, 
but  here  his  onerous  duties  soon  told  fatally  on  him,  for  in  the 
spring  he  was  attacked  with  hemorrhage  of  the  lungs,  attended 
with  other  alarming  symptoms,  and  after  suffering  much,  with- 
out prospect  of  speedy  recovery,  by  advice  he  left  for  the  up- 
country.  Reaching  Camden,  he  was  prostrated  with  another 
violent  bilious  fever,  which  prevented  his  going  farther.  This 
was  succeeded  by  a  most  rapid  consumption,  of  which  he  died 
on  the  9th  of  October,  1830. 

The  exercises  of  his  mind  and  the  manifestations  of  the  grace 
of  God  which  he  experienced  during  his  last  illness  were  peculiarly 
edifying.  His  pious  widow  (for  early  in  1829  he  was  married 
again,  most  happily,  to  Miss  Sarah  J.  Cook,  of  Camden)  says: 
"His  illness  seemed  to  have  troubled  his  spirits ;  and  sometimes 
he  was  bowed  down  under  manifold  temptations.  But  again, 
God  would  dispel  the  cloud,  and  give  him  to  rejoice.  About  ten 
days  before  his  departure  he  was  particularly  blessed.  'Death,' 
said  he,  'has  lost  his  sting.  Feeble  nature  has  sometimes  feared 
to  meet  the  enemy,  but  it  is  all  with  God.'  At  another  time  he 
exclaimed,  'Heaven,  what  a  delightful  place!  How  can  you  wish 
to  be  detained  from  it?'  About  seven  o'clock,  the  evening  before 
he  died,  he  requested  me  to  bring  his  two  dear  little  children  to 


Georgia  Methodism.  149 

him,  and  as  he  embraced  them  he  said,  'They  will  soon  be  father- 
less;' then,  with  his  eyes  swimming  with  tears,  and  looking  up 
to  Heaven,  he  continued,  'Father  of  the  fatherless,  take  care  of 
my  children!'  Then  giving  them  back  to  me,  he  said,  T  have 
given  both  them  and  you  to  God,  and  now  I  have  nothing  more 
to  do  but  to  wait  the  will  of  my  Lord.'  During  the  night  his 
kind  physician  said  to  him,  'Mr.  Wynn,  I  think  your  end  is  draw- 
ing near.'  He  gave  him  in  reply  an  affectionate  look,  embraced 
him,  and  thanked  him  with  great  tenderness  for  all  his  attentions 
to  him.  After  this  he  exclaimed,  'Glory  to  God !  Glory !  Hallelu- 
jah! repeating  the  expression  several  times.  He  seemed  to  be 
slumbering  most  of  the  night,  saying  many  things  indistinctly, 
about  'angels,'  'the  blessed,'  etc.  At  one  time  I  aroused  him, 
saying,  T  was  afraid  he  did  not  lie  easy.'  He  smilingly  replied, 
'I  sleep  so  sweetly  in  Jesus.'  Thus  he  seemed  to  slumber  until 
half -past  six  in  the  morning,  when  he  opened  his  eyes  and  looked 
affectionately  on  all  around  him,  and  then  closed  them  until  the 
resurrection  morning." 

In  his  Conference  Memoir,  published  in  the  Minutes  of  1831,  it 
is  said  of  him  as  follows :  "Brother  Wynn  possessed  extraor- 
dinary abilities  as  a  preacher.  From  childhood  he  was  studious 
and  thoughtful;  and,  although  his  opportunities  for  acquiring 
knowledge  in  early  life  were,  perhaps,  rather  limited  than  liberal, 
his  after-habits  were  such  as  to  render  him  respectable  both  for 
his  literary  and  theological  attainments.  In  this  respect  he  was 
a  fine  example  of  what  a  Methodist  preacher  can  do  to  improve 
his  mind,  if  he  will  be  studious — though  it  must  be  acknowledged 
that  Brother  Wynn  possessed  a  capacity  for  improvement  far 
above  what  is  common,  even  among  preachers.  His  perception 
was  quick,  his  understanding  strong,  and  his  judgment  well  bal- 
anced. He  loved  to  reason  on  a  right  subject,  and  he  reasoned 
well.  This  gave  a  distinguishing  character  to  his  pulpit  labors. 
They  were  sure  to  exhibit  an  able  argument,  as  well  as  a  warm 
application.  As  a  preacher,  altogether,  he  richly  merited  the  high 
estimation  in  which  he  was  held ;  and  what  he  was,  by  the  grace 
of  God,  as  a  man  and  a  Christian,  let  his  death-bed  speak.  By 
his  death  the  church  has  lost  a  son  and  a  servant,  much  lamented 
and  long  to  be  remembered." 

Peyton  L.  Wade  was  the  colleague  of  Thomas  L.  Wynn.  He 
travelled  only  a  few  years,  and  then  married  a  very  wealthy  and 
a  very  excellent  widow  lady,  and  located.  He  was  a  fine  busi- 
ness man,  and  his  wealth  greatly  increased,  so  that  at  the  time 
of  his  death,  which  did  not  take  place  for  over  forty  years  from 


150  History  of 

this  time,  he  was  the  wealthiest  Methodist  preacher  in  Georgia. 
He  was  a  warm-hearted  man  to  the  last,  and  many  a  travelling 
preacher  found  in  him  a  sympathizing  friend. 

Elijah  Sinclair  appears  as  on  the  Appling  Circuit,  which  was 
perhaps  the  poorest  and  hardest  circuit  in  the  State.  Sinclair, 
after  years  of  great  usefulness,  became  involved  in  speculation, 
met  with  disasters,  and  was  expelled  from  the  Church.  Save 
that  it  is  due  to  his  memory  to  say  that  the  charge  was  merely 
one  of  this  character,  we  should  have  passed  over  this  sad  rec- 
ord in  silence.  He  afterwards  returned  to  the  Church,  was  li- 
censed again  to  preach,  and  died  in  peace.  If  our  history  has 
taught  any  lesson,  it  has  taught  to  men  in  the  ministry  the  great 
danger  of  deviating  from  the  line  of  duty  to  engage  in  secular 
business,  especially  commercial  life.  Beverly  Allen,  Joseph 
Tarpley,  John  Andrew,  James  Russell,  Elijah  Sinclair,  Raleigh 
Green,  all  suffered  much,  and  some  fatally  from  this  cause. 
There  seems,  too,  to  be  a  real  fatality  about  trade  to  a  preacher. 
Many  have  entered  into  it,  and  few  of  them  have  escaped  bank- 
ruptcy and  life-long  distress. 

On  the  Oconee  District  this  year,  under  the  efficient  eldership 
of  Allen  Turner,  there  was  considerable  prosperity.  On  the 
sand-hills  in  Emanuel,  in  Washington,  at  the  camp-meeting  in 
Twiggs,  there  were  revivals.  In  Liberty  County  and  in  Wayne 
over  ioo  joined  the  Church.  Thomas  L.  Wynn,  says  the  pre- 
siding elder,  kept  unceasingly  at  work,  hardly  taking  time  to  eat. 
The  most  distant  circuit  in  the  South  was  Satilla  and  Amelia 
Island,  and  this  was  the  date  of  the  establishment  of  the  Church 
at  Fernandina.  There  was  a  small  increase  during  the  year. 
The  total  number  of  members  reported  at  Savannah  in  1823  was 
about  7,400  white  members. 

At  this  conference,  1822,  Elijah  Sinclair,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  appointed  to  St.  Mary's  and  Amelia  Island.  Amelia  Island 
was  the  northernmost  limit  of  the  province  of  Florida.  On  the 
northern  end  of  the  island,  within  a  few  miles  of  Cumberland 
Island,  in  Georgia,  and  twelve  miles  from  St.  Mary's,  was  the 
town  of  Fernandina.  The  island  was  not  thickly  inhabited,  but 
it  had  some  commercial  importance  as  the  port  of  East  Florida. 
During  the  war  of  1812,  it  had  been  a  depot  for  contraband 
traders,  and  after  the  slave  trade  was  abolished  in  the  United 
States,  cargoes  of  slaves  were  brought  to  this  port,  and  many 
of  them  smuggled  into  Georgia.  A  few  persons  of  English  and 
Scotch  descent  had  settled  on  the  island,  and  some  of  them  were 
engaged  in  planting  on  a  considerable  scale.     They  were  Prot- 


YOUNG  J.  ALLEN,  D.D.,  LL.D. 


REV.    R. 
At  time  nt'  death,  1912, 


\V.    LOVETT,    M.l>.. 

oldesl    Alumnus  of   Emory  College. 


Georgia  Methodism.  153 

estants.  Among  them  was  Donald  McDonnell,  a  Scotch  High- 
lander, who  had  married  first  an  English  lady  on  the  island,  and 
then  a  lady  of  Savannah,  of  French  and  Huguenot  lineage.  A 
Mr.  Seaton,  of  New  York,  had  settled  on  the  island  as  early  as 
1812,  and  thus  Sinclair  found  a  few  sympathizers,  as  he,  the 
first  Protestant  preacher  who  had  entered  Florida,  came  in 
1822.  Donald  McDonnell  was  the  early  friend  of  the  mission- 
aries, and  at  his  house  for  many  years  there  was  a  preaching 
place.  His  son,  the  father  of  Rev.  Geo.  G.  N.  McDonnell,  of 
the  South  Georgia  Conference,  was  converted  some  few  years 
after  this  on  the  mainland,  under  the  ministry  of  Rev.  John  L. 
Jerry,  and  afterwards  with  his  father  and  mother  joined  the 
Methodists,  as  there  was  no  Presbyterian  church  in  the  section. 

We  may  safely  say  that  the  first  Protestant  preaching  in 
Florida  was  on  Amelia  Island,  and  was  either  done  by  Elijah 
Sinclair,  or  his  predecessors  on  the  St.  Mary's  Circuit. 

Fernandina  is  now  a  promising  and  attractive  little  city,  about 
a  mile  from  the  old  Spanish  town  of  that  name,  and  the  Protest- 
ant bodies  are  well  represented  in  it. 

The  Ogeechee  District  was  partly  in  South  Carolina,  and  our 
old  friend  Joseph  Travis  was  upon  it.  Washington  Town,  al- 
though it  had  but  fourteen  members,  was  now  considered 
strong  enough  for  a  station,  and  Thomas  Darley  was  sent  to  it. 
For  nearly  thirty-five  years  the  Methodist  preachers  had  been 
preaching  regularly  at  Coke's  Chapel,  three  miles  from  the 
village,  and  in  the  academy,  and  as  the  fruit  of  the  toil  there 
were  fourteen  members  and  no  church  building. 

The  members  of  the  Church  in  the  State,  as  the  conference 
minutes  report  them,  were  fewer  by  500  than  they  had  been  ten 
years  before.  Why  was  this?  It  was  not  emigration;  the  new 
lands  of  Georgia  were  not  yet  open,  and  few  had  gone  to  Ala- 
bama or  Mississippi.  It  was  not  because  the  fields  had  been 
abandoned,  for  the  preachers  had  supplied  the  circuits  despite 
the  hardships  of  the  work. 

We  can  only  conjecture  the  true  answer  to  this  question. 

Several  causes  seem  to  have  united  to  produce  this  effect.  It 
was  a  time  of  great  temporal  prosperity.  Fortunes  were  being 
rapidly  made,  and  the  love  of  money  was  eating  up  the  Church. 
The  invention  of  the  cotton-gin  in  1800,  the  closing  of  the  slave 
trade  in  1808,  and  the  increased  effort  before  that  time  to  crowd 
the  poor  heathens  into  the  market ;  the  new  and  very  fertile 
lands  purchased  in  1804,  which  were  now  producing  cotton 
most  largely ;  the  invention  of  the  steamboat,  and  the  cheaper 


154  History  of 

transportation  of  cotton  from  Augusta,  which  made  that  city 
the  great  cotton  depot  of  Georgia,  had  all  rendered  the  rapid  se- 
curement  of  fortunes  by  farming  not  only  a  possibility,  but 
almost  a  certainty.  The  church-member  grew  rich,  and  had 
nowhere  to  bestow  his  goods.  His  habits  of  economy  and  in- 
dustry continued,  he  had  no  calls  upon  his  benevolence,  and  as 
extravagance  was  not  the  fashion,  he  spent  little,  gave  nothing 
away. 

The  circuits  were  very  large.  What  was  originally  the  result 
of  the  scarcity  of  men  and  the  sparse  population  of  the  country, 
was  now  persisted  in  for  the  sake  of  economy.  The  circuit 
preacher  only  came  every  twenty-eight  days,  and  then  remained 
only  part  of  one  day.  The  support  accorded  to  the  preachers 
was  entirely  insufficient;  the  people  had  been  poor,  and  they 
could  not  believe  they  were  not  poor  now.  In  the  first  days  the 
preachers  had  only  hoped  to  get  a  scant  sum,  enough  it  might 
be  to  clothe  them,  and  now  the  wealthy  member  was  unwilling 
to  pay  more.  Thus  the  able  and  experienced  men  were  driven 
otit  of  the  field  by  their  inability  to  stay  in  it. 

Pierce,  Tarpley,  Capel,  Jenkins,  had  followed  Hull,  Hum- 
phries and  Ivy  to  the  local  sphere  when  they  were  needed  most, 
in  the  itinerancy,  and  when  they  were  in  the  ripeness  of  their 
power.  Even  those  who  remained  were  forced  to  have  farms 
of  their  own,  oftentimes  very  remote  from  their  circuits.  There 
were  yet  but  two  parsonages  in  the  State,  one  in  Augusta  and  one 
in  Savannah,  and  in  these  places  the  Church  advanced.  The 
ministry  were  not  equal  in  culture  to  the  demand,  for,  although 
the  masses  were  not  equal  to  the  ministers,  there  were  a  large 
number  of  cultivated  people  in  the  State,  who  were  far  ahead 
of  most  of  the  preachers ;  as  yet  there  was  not  a  single  classical 
scholar,  except  Jos.  Travis,  among  the  preachers  in  Georgia. 
Then  too  there  was  great  disaffection  among  some  of  the  local 
preachers  of  prominence.  The  excitement  which,  a  year  or  two 
later,  culminated  in  the  formation  of  the  Methodist  Protestant 
Church,  was  now  arising. 

Everything  moved  on  in  the  same  old  way.  New  churches 
were  not  built,  only  one  new  school  had  been  established ;  no 
superannuated  preachers  were  supported.  The  circuits  were  of 
the  same  size,  and  the  preachers  pursued  the  same  methods,  of 
which  we  have  spoken  in  our  account  of  the  Church  in  1812. 
There  were,  as  yet,  no  Sunday-schools  of  which  we  can  find  any 
account,  save  a  few  in  the  larger  cities — one  in  Savannah  and 
probably  one  in  Augusta.     Milledgeville  having  ceased  to  be  a 


Georgia  Methodism.  155 

station,  the  first  Sunday-school  established  there  had  no  doubt 
died  of  neglect.  The  Church  was  torpid,  but  not  dead.  The 
camp-meetings  and  the  quarterly  meetings  were  still  great  oc- 
casions, and  all  Georgia  was  on  the  eve  of  the  greatest  revival 
it  had  ever  known,  and  the  Church  was  about  to  take  an  ad- 
vanced position  from  which  she  has  never  been  driven.  This 
it  will  be  the  duty  of  the  next  chapter  to  tell. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
i 823- i 830. 

Although  the  State  of  Georgia,  after  the  sale  to  the  United 
States  of  all  the  territory  which  is  now  comprised  in  the  States 
of  Alabama  and  Mississippi,  nominally  included  in  her  boun- 
dary all  that  now  belongs  to  her,  yet  the  Indian  title  to  a  large 
part  of  it  was  not  extinguished.  All  the  country  west  of  the 
Ocmulgee  and  north  of  the  Chattahoochee  was  held  by  the 
Creeks  and  Cherokees.  The  country  on  the  east  side  of  the 
river  was,  for  that  time,  thickly  settled ;  on  the  west,  where 
there  were  thousands  of  acres  of  fertile  land,  the  wild  Indian 
had  his  hunting-grounds.  A  treaty  was  made  by  the  United 
States  with  the  Indians  in  1818  and  in  1819,  and  a  part  of  this 
country  was  opened  to  the  white  settlers.  This  section,  which 
was  surveyed  and  laid  out  into  lots  of  202^/2  acres,  in  1821, 
extended  to  the  Flint  River.  In  1825  the  remainder  of  the 
Creek  land  was  purchased,  and  in  1838  the  Cheokees  were  re- 
moved to  the  far  West.     The  new  lands  were  rapidly  settled. 

At  the  conference  which  met  in  Savannah,  February  20,  1823, 
Bishop  Roberts  presiding,  important  advances  were  made  in  the 
Georgia  work.  Several  new  missions  were  established  in  the 
conference.  This  was  the  beginning  of  that  wonderful  work 
since  done  in  the  domestic  field  by  the  Missionary  Board.  The 
Missionary  Society  of  the  M.  E.  Church  had  been  in  existence 
but  a  short  time,  when  this  first  appropriation  was  made  to 
Georgia. 

The  corps  of  preachers  in  Georgia  was  a  strong  one. 

Milledgeville  was  again  made  a  station,  and  Wm.  Capers,  in 
order  that  he  might  be  near  to  the  Creek  Mission,  was  placed 
in  charge  of  it.  Capers  was  now  in  the  prime  of  his  man- 
hood, and  his  fame  as  a  preacher  and  as  a  Christian  gentleman 
was  as  wide  as  American  Methodism.  He  did  not  confine  him- 
self to  Milledgeville,  but  travelled  much  in  the  interests  of  the 
mission,  and  made  his  power  felt  throughout  the  State.  Mil- 
ledgeville, after  having  had  separate  existence  as  a  station,  had, 
since  1814,  been  an  appointment  in  the  Cedar  Creek  Circuit, 
and,  of  course,  was  worse  off  at  the  end  of  ten  years  in  the  cir- 
cuit than  it  was  when  it  was  united  with  it.  The  establishment 
of  a  station,  and  the  appointment  of  Dr.  Capers  to  it,  was  a  re- 
vival of  its  spirit.  There  was  no  parsonage,  and  during  the 
first  part  of  the  year  he  left  his  family  in  South  Carolina.     Mrs. 


Georgia  Methodism.  157 

Clark,  the  Governor's  wife,  was  a  Methodist,  and  when  the 
executive  mansion  was  vacated  for  the  summer  she  requested 
her  pastor  to  occupy  it  with  his  family.  The  next  year  a  parson- 
age was  secured,  the  third  in  the  State.* 

Dr.  Capers  came  to  the  capitol  at  a  time  when  it  was  the 
centre  of  the  most  intense  political  excitement,  and  when  the 
hope  of  doing  anything  for  the  Church  was  almost  a  vain  one. 
The  political  excitement  in  the  times  of  Troup  and  Clark  was 
exceedingly  bitter;  and  inasmuch  as  men,  not  principles,  were 
the  objects  of  contest,  a  bitter  personality  entered  into  all  the 
political  controversies.  Preachers  as  well  as  people  were  de- 
cided in  sentiment,  and  they  were  popular  or  otherwise,  accord- 
ing to  their  political  complexion.  Mercer,  Danl.  Duffy,  Hodges, 
and  many  others  were  not  only  Troup  men,  but  were  openly 
avowed  participants  in  the  contest.  Fortunately  for  Dr.  Capers, 
he  was  from  South  Carolina,  and  alike  the  friend  of  Gov.  Clark 
and  of  Gov.  Troup,  his  successor;  but  still  this  intense  state  of 
feeling  was  unfavorable  to  his  work.  So,  while  he  did  wonder- 
ful preaching  and  much  of  it,  preaching  at  the  penitentiary  at 
sunrise,  at  the  church  at  eleven  o'clock,  at  three  p.  m.,  and  at 
night,  there  was  no  considerable  addition  to  the  membership 
during  the  year.f 

Wra.  Arnold  returned  now  to  the  work,  and  was  sent  on  the 
Cedar  Creek  Circuit.  Arnold  was  one  of  the  holiest  and  most 
lovable  of  men.  He  had  no  doubt  greatly  improved  as  a 
preacher  since  we  last  saw  him,  and  was  exceedingly  popular 
and  useful.  Thomas  Samford  was  on  the  Sparta  Circuit,  and 
John  B.  Chappell  on  the  Alcovi.  Wiley  Warwick,  who  had 
travelled  as  early  as  1804  in  the  bounds  of  the  States  of  North 
and  South  Carolina,  having  now  removed  to  Georgia,  re-entered 
the  active  work,  and  was  sent  on  the  Grove  Circuit.  George 
Hill  took  the  Monroe  Mission,  Andrew  Hammill  the  Yellow 
River,  and  Wm.  J.  Parks  the  Gwinnett. 

The  Athens  District  had  not  often  before  or  since  been  sup- 
plied with  stronger  men. 

Lovick  Pierce,  after  a  location  since  1814,  now  returned 
where  his  heart  had  always  been,  to  the  travelling  connection. 
His  family  were  located  in  Greensboro,  where  he  had  resided 
from  the  time  of  his  location.  He  had  not  been  idle,  but  had 
been  hard  at  work  preaching  and  cultivating  the  powers  of  his 
wonderful  mind.     He  was  now  able  to  return  to  the  work,  and 


*Life  of  Capers.     tCapers'  Life  and  Minutes. 


158  History  of 

leaving  his  family  for  four-fifths  of  the  time,  he  served  again 
his  old  flock  in  Augusta.  James  O.  Andrew  was  sent  to  Savan- 
nah. If  matters  had  not  improved  in  Georgia  after  this,  it  was 
not  because  she  was  unsupplied  with  able  preachers. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  new  purchase  was  now  mapped  out.  Al- 
ready had  the  local  preachers  been  at  work  forming  societies  and 
waiting  for  the  conference  appointee  to  come.  The  counties  had 
not  been  settled  a  twelvemonth  before  the  missionary  was  in 
them.  George  Hill  was  on  the  Monroe  Mission.  His  mission 
included  Monroe,  a  part  of  Bibb,  Upson,  Crawford,  Pike  and 
Butts  counties.  Although  he  came  in  1823,  and  the  appointment 
first  appears,  he  was  not  the  first  travelling  preacher  in  Monroe. 
Andrew  Hammill  had  been  before  him.  He  had  been  appointed 
to  assist  Isaac  Smith  in  establishing  the  Creek  Mission;  but  for 
some  cause,  after  going  out  to  it,  he  had  been  released  and  re- 
turned to  Georgia,  and  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  he  had  gone 
into  Monroe  to  establish  the  Church  there.  John  Wimbish,  a 
local  preacher,  afterwards  in  the  conference,  had  been  preach- 
ing in  the  county,  and  had  organized  some  churches.  Hammill 
established  several,  and  had  a  church  built  near  the  present  Mt. 
Zion.  This  church  was  the  first  in  all  probability  in  all  the  coun- 
try now  included  in  the  territory  of  the  mission.  It  was  built 
the  last  of  1822.* 

The  section  to  which  Hill  was  sent,  the  then  county  of  Mon- 
roe, which  included  the  territory  of  a  half-dozen  counties  now, 
was  one  of  the  first  in  the  new  purchase.  It  is  still  a  good 
county,  with  a  delightful  climate  and  excellent  people,  but  the 
lands  are  no  longer  what  they  once  were.  The  Creek  Indians, 
who  lived  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  kept  the  woods  burned 
that  they  might  have  free  access  to  the  deer,  and  that  the  grass 
might  give  to  the  herds  good  grazing,  so  that  the  beautiful  hills 
richly  clad  with  fine  timber  were  all  grass  covered.  The  purest 
and  clearest  brooks  rippled  over  their  pebbly  beds,  and  when 
the  forest  was  felled  production  was  abundant.  A  county  so 
enticing,  bordering  upon  the  white  settlements  and  given  away 
by  the  State,  could  not  long  wait  for  population,  and  very  soon 
after  it  was  granted  it  was  thickly  settled.  Many  Methodists 
came  from  the  older  States,  and  when  George  Hill  came,  he 
found  a  church  already  organized.  He  was  most  admirably 
suited  to  his  work.  Energetic,  pious  and  eloquent,  great  success 
attended  him.     He  came  one  winter  day  across  the  Ocmulgee 

•Kecollections  of  J.  B.  Hanson  and  other  old  members. 


Georgia  Methodism.  159 

to  the  home  of  Enoch  Hanson,  long  a  good  man  and  a  devoted 
Methodist,  in  whose  house  there  was  a  church,  now  known  as 
Ebenezer.  The  appointment  had  been  sent  by  the  missionary, 
and  not  received,  and  Hill  found  only  some  little  boys  at  the 
home.  One  of  these  was  the  at  present  Rev.  J.  B.  Hanson; 
with  them  he  spent  his  first  Sunday  on  his  mission.  His  circuit 
began  at  Ebenezer,  he  went  thence  to  Salem,  thence  to  Damas- 
cus in  Bibb,  through  the  thinly  settled  pine  woods  of  Bibb  to 
Rogers,  Culloden,  and  into  Upson,  and  back  through  Butts  to 
the  point  from  which  he  started,  having  twenty-four  appoint- 
ments, which  he  filled  in  one  month.  There  are  now  ten  itiner- 
ant Methodist  preachers  in  the  territory  over  which  he  travelled. 
The  first  preaching  in  Upson  was  at  the  house  of  a  Mr.  May- 
brey.  The  first  in  Pike,  at  a  little  log  church  near  Josiah 
Holmes',  a  few  miles  from  Barnesville.  There  were  already,  as 
early  as  1823,  several  local  preachers  of  ability  in  the  circuit. 
Among  them  was  Moses  Matthews,  who  had  been  a  travelling 
preacher  as  early  as  1805,  Thomas  Battle,  an  energetic,  sprightly 
little  man  from  Warren  County,  Osborn  Rogers,  and  many  valua- 
ble laymen  from  the  eastern  counties.  Oren  Woodward,  Dr.  Jas. 
Thweatt,  Major  Tarpley,  Holt,  and  Dr.  James  Myrick,  were 
leading  officials  in  that  early  day.  Dr.  Myrick  was  one  of  the 
most  saintly  men  of  his  time.  He  was  for  fifty  years  class  leader 
at  Damascus.  He  lived  no  day  without  an  evidence  of  his  ac- 
ceptance with  God.  The  little  closet  in  which  he  used  to  pray 
with  his  open  Bible  before  him,  bore  upon  the  floor  where 
he  had  knelt  three  times  a  day  for  fifty  years,  the  evidence  of 
how  long  and  how  frequent  had  been  his  prayers.  His  house 
was  the  preacher's  home,  and  his  stirring,  noisy,  merry  wife — ■ 
Aunt  Nancy,  as  she  was  called — was  the  fast  friend  of  every 
travelling  preacher.  His  brother-in-law,  Col.  Wm.  C.  Redding, 
was  to  the  church  at  Salem  what  Dr.  Myrick  was  to  that  of  Da- 
mascus ;  he  was  long  the  recording  steward  of  the  large  circuit, 
and  was  one  of  the  most  valuable  laymen  of  his  day.  With 
such  material  at  his  hands,  and  such  a  workman  as  Hill,  the  suc- 
cess attending  him  was  not  to  be  wondered  at.  Monroe  re- 
mained a  mission  only  one  year,  and  in  a  few  years  the  Monroe 
Circuit  was  one  of  the  best  in  Georgia,  a  place  it  has  continued 
to  hold  to  the  present  time. 

The  Yellow  River  Mission  joined  the  Monroe  Mission  on  the 
north.  It  was  so  named  from  one  of  the  branches  of  the  Oc- 
mulgee,  which  rises  in  Gwinnett  County,  and  flows  southward. 
The  Mission  included  the  present  counties  of  Newton,  Walton, 


160  History  of 

Henry,  Fayette,  and  Clayton.  No  part  of  the  country  was  re- 
markably fertile,  but  all  was  sufficiently  so  to  attract  many  set- 
tlers. Wealthy  cotton  planters  sought  the  richer  lands  of  the 
West,  but  plain,  provision-raising  Methodists  sought  these 
cheaper  lands,  nearer  their  old  homes.  Hammill  had  grand  suc- 
cess in  this  field,  and  gathered  up  a  church  of  350  members. 

The  Gwinnett  Mission,  which  Wm.  J.  Parks  travelled,  was  in 
a  rougher  country.  There  were  hills  and  mountains,  the  lands 
were  not  so  good,  and  there  was  but  little  inducement  to  men  of 
wealth  to  move  where  cotton  was  not  produced.  The  country 
was,  however,  soon  settled,  for  lands  were  very  cheap,  a  lot  of 
land  being  often  bought  for  a  pony.  It  was  now  being  settled 
rapidly,  but  not  thickly.  "Often,"  says  the  missionary,  "I 
travelled  for  miles  without  even  a  settler's  blaze  to  direct  me." 
The  county  town  of  Gwinnett  was  Lawrenceville.  One  Sunday 
morning,  early  in  1823,  the  people  of  the  new  village  were  as- 
sembled for  worship  in  the  log  court-house,  when  the  new 
preacher  came  in.  He  was  dressed  in  the  humblest  garb  of  the 
country.  His  coat  was  of  plain  country  jeans,  cut  in  the  old 
Methodist  style,  and  fitted  him  badly.  A  copperas-dyed  linsey 
vest,  coarse  pantaloons  too  short  for  him,  blue  yarn  socks,  and 
heavy  brogan  shoes,  completed  the  dress  of  a  dark-skinned, 
stern-looking  young  man,  of  whom  the  people  had  never  heard. 
A  broad  smile  passed  over  the  face  .of  a  congregation  themselves 
not  most  fashionably  arrayed ;  but  before  the  sermon  was  through 
it  changed  to  a  smile  of  satisfaction  that  he  had  come ;  for,  to  use 
the  language  of  the  section,  they  found  they  had  a  "singed  cat," 
who  was  far  better  than  he  looked.*  Wm.  J.  Parks  was  among 
a  simple-hearted,  plain  people,  eager  for  the  Gospel,  and  his 
heart  was  full  of  zeal.  They  came  in  great  numbers  to  hear  him, 
and  the  results  of  the  year  were  so  encouraging  that  the  young 
preacher  was  returned,  and  at  the  end  of  1824  he  reported  561 
white  members  and  31  colored.  New  log-churches  sprang  up 
all  over  the  county,  and  many  valuable  people  were  gathered  into 
the  Church.  The  father  of  Jesse  and  Isaac  Boring  had  moved 
to  these  wilds,  and  these  two  young  men  received  their  first  in- 
struction in  the  art  of  preaching  from  Wm.  J.  Parks. 

The  work  in  the  new  purchase  presented  those  difficulties 
common  to  recent  settlements — the  humblest  cabins  for  shelter, 
the  plainest  people  for  hearers,  and  the  hardest  fare — but  there 
was  compensation  in  the  success  which  attended  his  labors,  and 

*Recollections  of  the  Mother  of  Col.  G.  N.  Lester. 


Georgia  Methodism.  161 

the  eagerness  of  the  people  for  the  Gospel,  for  they  often  walked, 
eight  miles  to  hear  preaching.  The  list  of  appointments  called 
for  thirty  sermons  in  thirty  days.  It  was  no  wonder  with  such 
practice  as  this  Parks  became  so  useful  a  preacher.* 

The  Appling  Circuit  in  the  low  country  was  this  year  made  a 
mission,  and  Adam  Wyreck  was  sent  to  it,  and  a  mission  in  the 
southwest  of  the  new  purchase  was  organized,  to  which  two 
preachers  were  sent,  John  J.  Triggs  and  John  Slade.  To  reach 
this  appointment  they  had  to  ride  through  the  Indian  nation  for 
a  long  distance,  and  had  to  ride  in  all  four  hundred  miles  from 
the  conference. 

Triggs  had  gone  out  from  the  last  conference,  to  organize  the 
mission,  and  now  an  assistant  was  sent  to  him,  John  Slade,  who 
was  recognized  as  the  father  of  Florida  Methodism,  though  he 
was  not  the  first  to  preach  the  Gospel  in  the  new  territory. 

He  was  born  in  South  Carolina,  and  was  now  thirty-three 
years  old.  He  had  travelled  one  year  as  a  supply  before  1823, 
but  now  for  the  first  time  entered  the  travelling  connection,  and 
was  appointed  to  the  Chattahoochee  Mission.  After  travelling 
about  seven  years  he  located,  and  gave  useful  labor  as  a  local 
preacher,  to  the  building  up  of  the  Church  in  Florida.  He  re- 
entered the  Florida  Conference  in  1845,  and  travelled  in  it  till 
his  death  in  1854.  He  was  a  fine  specimen  of  a  man.  He  was 
tall,  well  proportioned,  with  a  fine  face.  He  sang  well  and 
preached  with  power. f  The  country  in  which  Triggs  and  Slade 
preached  was  in  the  corner  of  three  States,  Georgia,  Alabama 
and  Florida.  Their  circuit  was  an  immense  one.  The  people 
were  perhaps  the  rudest  in  the  States,  and  though  now  and  then, 
on  the  better  lands,  they  found  some  thrifty  settlers,  generally 
they  were  the  poorest  and  most  ignorant  class  of  stock-raisers. 

While  Triggs  and  Slade  carried  the  Gospel  to  these  pioneers 
on  the  West,  J.  N.  Glenn  was  sent  to  the  oldest  city  of  America, 
St.  Augustine,  in  Florida.  He  was  the  first  missionary  to  East 
Florida,  though  Elijah  Sinclair  had  preached  on  Amelia  Island, 
two  years  before  him.  Florida,  while  a  Spanish  province,  had 
excluded  the  Protestant  missionaries,  but  now  it  was  open  to 
them.  Young  Glenn  found  only  one  member  of  the  Church  in 
the  old  city,  but  during  the  year  succeeded  in  raising  a  society 
of  ten  members.  Allen  Turner  was  the  Presiding  Elder  of  the 
Oconee  District,  and  his  district  extended  into  Florida.  He  held 
a  quarterly  meeting,  the  first  ever  held  in  Florida,  at  St.  Augus- 


*Eecollections  of  Wm.  J.  Parks.     tSprague. 


162  History  of 

tine,  and  forty-two  persons  knelt  at  the  communion.  A  church 
in  St.  Augustine  was  finally  built,  and  the  mission  for  some  years 
had  a  feeble  existence,  but  after  the  growth  of  Jacksonville,  and 
the  opening  of  the  interior  towns,  it  was  abandoned. 

From  so  efficient  a  band  of  workers  we  might  naturally  ex- 
pect rapid  increase,  and  we  are  not  disappointed.  During  the 
year  there  was  an  addition  of  nearly  two  thousand  members  in 
the  bounds  of  the  Georgia  work,  the  total  number  footing  up 
10,013  white,  and  2,700  colored. 

The  next  conference  met  in  Charleston,  February  19,  1824. 
Bishop  George  presided.  The  salaries  of  preachers  were  very 
deficient,  and  the  funds  of  the  conference  were  not  sufficient  to 
pay  them  forty  per  cent,  of  their  claims.  When  it  is  remembered 
that  this  deficit  in  the  funds  was  simply  in  the  matter  of  quarter- 
age, not  including  table  expenses,  and  that  this  quarterage,  when 
all  was  paid,  .was  but  one  hundred  dollars  per  annum,  the 
amount  of  privation  which  the  preachers  knew  may  be  conjec- 
tured. At  the  close  of  the  session,  the  Bishop  held  up  a  purse 
of  silver  money  with  eleven  dollars  in  it,  and  said  he  "had  that 
morning  met  a  black  woman  in  the  street,  who  gave  him  that  and 
said,  'Give  that  to  Jesus,'  and  asked  the  conference  what  he 
should  do  with  it.  One  brother  said,  'Give  it  to  the  most  needy,' 
but  no  preacher  was  willing  to  tell  how  poor  he  was.  One  said, 
'Here  is  a  young  brother  who  is  not  able  to  pay  for  stabling  his 
horse,'  so  he  gave  him  some  of  it,  and  finding  out  some  others 
very  needy  he  divided  it  among  them."* 

At  this  conference  an  advanced  movement  was  made  into  the 
new  territory  of  Florida,  now  being  rapidly  peopled,  and  a  dis- 
trict was  made.  Josiah  Evans  was  placed  in  charge  of  it.  It 
was  called  the  Tallahassee  District,  and  Evans  was  not  only 
presiding  elder,  but  in  charge  of  the  Tallahassee  Mission  also. 

Florida,  which  had  been  but  recently  opened  to  the  Protestant 
missionary  and  to  the  American  settler,  presents  features  more 
unique  than  any  of  the  Southern  States.  Florida  west  of  the 
Chattahoochee  is  almost  a  continuous  belt  of  pine  woods,  now 
and  then  broken  into  by  rich  hammocks  and  low  swamps.  Mid- 
dle Florida,  from  the  Georgia  line  to  the  gulf,  and  to  the  With- 
lacoochee  River,  is  one  of  the  most  fertile,  and  especially  one  of 
the  best  cotton-producing  sections  in  the  South ;  while  East 
Florida  presents  almost  every  diversity  of  feature  of  which  a 
semi-tropical  country  is  capable.     The  St.  John's,  rising  in  the 

*Dunwoody. 


Georgia  Methodism.  163 

everglades,  made  its  way  northward  to  the  sea ;  there  were  rivers 
and  lakes,  there  were  wild  prairies,  and  orange  groves,  and  live 
oak  forests,  all  as  yet  untenanted  save  by  the  Seminole  and  by 
herds  of  deer  and  cattle.  The  Indians  had,  in  a  great  measure, 
vacated  middle  Florida,  and  there  was  now  a  number  of  good 
settlers  pouring  into  that  part  of  the  State.  There  were  some 
men  of  wealth  and  intelligence.  Tallahassee,  the  seat  of  gov- 
ernment, was  already  the  centre  of  considerable  refinement;  but 
while  there  was  refinement,  there  was  wild  dissipation,  and  the 
gambler  and  duelist  were  there  beside  the  adventurous  planter 
and  the  young  merchant. 

The  settlers  were  scarcely  in  the  hammocks,  and  Tallahassee 
had  but  recently  been  laid  out,  before  the  missionary  came.  Jo- 
siah  Evans,  who  was  on  the  Tallahassee  mission,  was  not  a 
gifted,  nor  was  he  a  polished  man.  He  was  rough  and  almost 
unfeeling  at  times,  but  he  was  a  brave  man,  who  was  used  to 
work,  and  willing  to  do  it.  Morgan  Turrentine  and  John  L. 
Jerry  were  with  him  in  this  work.  Such  success  attended  them 
that  at  the  next  conference  571  whites  and  107  blacks  were  re- 
ported as  being  in  the  Church  in  the  district.  Wm.  Arnold  was 
again  on  the  Cedar  Creek  Circuit,  James  Bellah  on  the  Alcovi, 
Thomas  Samfoid  on  the  Appalachee,  and  Wiley  Warwick  on 
the  Grove,  and  Whitman  C.  Hill  on  the  Walton.  The  work  was 
never  better  manned  before  or  since. 

The  towns,  since  Methodism  had  begun  its  work  in  the  State, 
had  been  sadly  neglected.  Dr.  Lovick  Pierce,  always  progres- 
sive, had  seen  the  evil  resulting  from  the  kind  of  service  which 
the  circuit  preacher  rendered,  had  earnestly  advocated  more  at- 
tention to  these  important  county  centres.  A  change  was  now 
inaugurated,  and  Athens  and  Greensboro  were  united,  and  Lo- 
vick Pierce  was  sent  to  them.  Warrenton  and  Louisville  were 
united,  and  Thomas  Darley  was  sent  in  charge.  Tilman  Snead 
was  on  the  Warren  Circuit  this  year.  He  died  during  the  year 
1875,  when  he  was  nearly  ninety  years  old. 

He  was  born  in  Wilkes  County,  May  n,  1786,  but  his  fam- 
ily moved  to  South  Carolina  in  less  than  two  years ;  in  1799 
they  removed  to  Augusta,  and  for  eight  years  he  remained 
behind  a  counter.  When  he  was  eighteen  years  old  he  removed 
to  St.  Simons  Island  and  remained  there  for  four  years.  There 
were  but  few  Methodists  in  South  Carolina  when  he  had  re- 
sided there,  and  it  was  in  Augusta  that  his  mother,  in  a  private 
house,  joined  the  Church.  On  his  return  from  St.  Simons,  a 
few  miles  from  his  home,  in  a  meeting-house  of  the  Bush  River 


164  History  of 

Circuit,  young  Snead  was  converted,  and  under  James  Russell 
he  joined  the  Church;  he  was  soon  licensed  to  exhort  and 
preach.  He  travelled  consecutively  for  fifteen  years,  and  then 
located;  in  his  old  age  he  became  dissatisfied  with  the  Church 
of  his  early  love,  and  withdrew  and  formed  the  Southern  In- 
dependent Church,  and  after  its  failure  remained  out  of  any 
communion,  although  living  a  holy  life  and  in  good  accord 
with  his  old  brethren  till  his  death.* 

At  this  session  of  the  conference  delegates  were  elected  to 
the  general  conference,  which  was  to  meet  in  Baltimore  in 
May.  The  delegates  from  the  South  Carolina  Conference  were 
Lewis  Myers,  Nicholas  Talley,  Samuel  K.  Hodges,  James  Nor- 
ton, William  Capers,  James  O.  Andrew,  Samuel  Dunwoody, 
Wm.  M.  Kennedy,  Lovick  Pierce,  Jos.  Travis. 

The  excitement  of  four  years  before  on  the  suspended  reso- 
lutions, with  reference  to  the  election  of  presiding  elders,  had 
not  subsided.  Bishop  McKendree  felt  impelled  to  defend  his 
course.  This  he  did  before  the  conference,  and  in  his  course 
he  was  sustained.  In  the  interval  of  the  conference,  that  which 
was  then  known  as  the  Radical  Controversy  had  been  growing 
in  heat,  and  the  Mutual  Rights  newspaper  was  in  existence  in 
Baltimore.  This  controversy  had  already  brought  some  of  the 
ablest  and  best  men  of  the  Church  into  collision.  McCaine, 
Snethen,  Shinn,  and  Jennings  were  on  one  side,  while  Roszell, 
Soule,  Capers,  Myers,  and  Williams,  of  the  travelling  ministry, 
were  on  the  other ;  but  Dr.  Thomas  E.  Bond,  a  local  preacher 
and  physician  in  Baltimore,  the  brother  of  John  Wesley  Bond 
and  father  of  the  late  Dr.  Thomas  E.  Bond,  had  made  his  ap- 
pearance as  a  defender  of  Episcopal  Methodism,  and  had  made 
his  power  felt  as  no  other  man  had.  The  questions  at  issue  had 
been  brought  into  the  election  for  delegates,  and  the  confer- 
ences had  shown  their  opinion  on  them  by  their  choice  of  dele- 
gates. The  veto  power  of  the  Bishops  and  the  election  of  two 
more  were  the  points  of  contest.  The  conservatives  were  in 
the  majority  and  carried  their  measures. 

Lewis  Myers,  who  had  always  been  bitterly  opposed  to  the 
early  marriage  of  preachers,  seconded  by  Samuel  Dunwoody, 
had  a  resolution  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Itinerancy, 
which  provided  that  no  preacher  who  married  before  he  had 
travelled  four  years  should  receive  quarterage  or  an  allowance 
for  family  expenses.     The  general  conference  was  too  merciful 


'Letter  from  him  written  March  8,  1875,  when  he  was  89  years  old. 


Georgia  Methodism.  165 

to  pass  such  a  resolution.  After  a  close  ballot,  Joshua  Soule 
and  Elijah  Hedding  were  elected  Bishops,  each  receiving  just 
enough  votes  to  elect  him.  They  were  both  New  Englanders, 
and  possessed  many  features  of  character  in  common.  The 
suspended  resolutions  were  again  laid  over  for  four  years,  and 
the  conference,  after  the  transaction  of  the  usual  business  ad- 
journed. 

Joseph  Travis  was  now  for  his  fourth  year  on  the  Ogeechee 
District.  Travis  made  his  home  in  Washington,  and  relates  an 
incident  in  his  life  on  the  district  which  resulted  very  happily 
for  the  Church. 

We  have  spoken  in  a  previous  chapter  of  a  visit  Bishop  As- 
bury  had  made  to  the  home  of  Capt.  Few,  of  Columbia  County, 
to  see  his  son,  who  was  serious.  The  boy  grew  up  to  manhood, 
was  educated  at  Princeton,  and  became  an  infidel.  He  was 
proud  of  his  philosophical  skepticism,  and  did  not  hesitate  to 
avow  and  to  defend  it.  He  was  now  living  in  Augusta,  and 
was  practising  law.  He  sent  for  Travis  to  come  and  spend  a 
few  days  with  him.  While  there.  Col.  Few  told  him  of  his  nar- 
row escape  from  death  from  hemorrhage.  At  family  prayer  he 
stood  up,  while  the  remainder  of  the  family  knelt.  After  the 
ladies  retired,  he  introduced  his  favorite  subject.  The  dispu- 
tants were  both  able  men,  and  the  discussion  continued  to  a 
late  hour.  "Then,"  says  Travis,  "I  determined  to  try  the  argu- 
mentuni  ad  homincm  on  him,  and  asked  him  if  he  felt  no  fear 
of  death  when  he  thought  he  was  about  to  die ;  to  which  he 
replied  that  for  a  few  moments  he  felt  somewhat  curious,  but 
that,  as  soon  as  he  could  rally  his  natural  powers,  all  was  calm." 

Travis  then  retired.  In  a  few  moments  a  servant  came  for 
him  from  Col.  Few.  He  hastened  to  him,  and  found  him  bleed- 
ing from  the  lungs.  Taking  him  by  the  hand,  the  colonel  said : 
'T  told  you  but  a  few  minutes  ago  I  was  not  afraid  to  die ;  but, 
oh,  sir,  it  is  not  so."  He  recovered  from  this  attack,  and  Tra- 
vis induced  him  to  read  Fletcher's  Appeal.  He  became  con- 
verted to  the  truth,  and  afterward  a  sincere  Christian  and  an 
active  preacher,  whom  we  shall  often  see.* 

It  was  while  Travis  was  on  this  district  that  he  reluctantly 
gave  license  to  preach  to  a  young  Vermonter,  who  was  teach- 
ing an  academy  in  Abbeville  District,  S.  C.  This  young  man 
was  Stephen  Olin.f 

Andrew  Hammill  was  made  Presiding  Elder  on  the  Oconee 
District,  and  Saml.  K.  Hodges  on  the  Athens. 

•Travis'  Autobiography,     tlb. 


166  History  of 

The  conference  for  1825  met  in  Wilmington,  N.  C,  Jan. 
20th,  Bishop  Roberts  presiding. 

The  Ogeechee  District  which  Travis  had  travelled  was  now 
abolished,  and  the  Savannah  and  Augusta  Districts  were 
formed.  Wm.  Arnold  continued  on  the  Athens  District,  and 
the  Oconee  District  ceased  to  be  while  the  Milledgeville  Dis- 
trict was  organized.  Up  to  this  time,  since  the  State  was  di- 
vided into  districts,  the  old  Ogeechee  and  Oconee  Districts, 
named  after  the  rivers,  had  held  their  places,  and  the  circuits 
were  named,  like  them,  after  rivers  and  creeks,  but  there  was 
now  a  new  method  of  naming  them — the  districts  were  called 
after  the  principal  towns  in  them,  and  the  circuits  bore  the 
names  of  the  county  towns,  or  the  counties  in  which  they  were. 

Andrew  Hammill's  hard  work  had  been  too  much  for  his 
strength,  and  he  retired  on  the  superannuated  list. 

Nicholas  Talley  came  again  to  Georgia  as  Presiding  Elder 
on  the  Augusta  District.  Wm.  Crooks,  a  young  man  who  after- 
ward for  many  years  did  fine  service  in  South  Carolina,  came 
as  junior  preacher  on  the  Appalachee  Circuit  with  James  Bellah. 

Isaac  Boring  was  with  Wm.  J.  Parks  on  Broad  River  Circuit. 
He  was  the  son  of  excellent  Methodist  parents.  They  had  re- 
moved from  Jackson  County  to  Gwinnett,  while  the  country 
was  new.  The  educational  advantages  of  young  Boring  were 
such  as  could  be  secured  in  the  frontier  counties.  Before  he 
was  twenty,  he  began  to  preach,  and  continued  his  work  until 
1850,  when  he  died  suddenly  of  cholera,  at  the  General  Con- 
ference in  St.  Louis. 

If  not  a  brilliant,  he  was  a  highly  gifted  man.  One  whose 
clear  head,  and  whose  determined  will,  and  whose  consecrated 
heart,  made  him  a  most  valuable  man  to  the  Church.  He  did 
all  kinds  of  hard  work,  and  well  won  his  place  among  the  first 
of  the  conference.  He  was  the  older  brother  of  Dr.  Jesse  Bor- 
ing, who  entered  the  conference  two  years  after  him. 

Still  the  work  of  increase  goes  on.  The  total  white  member- 
ship reported  at  the  conference  was  14,186  whites,  an  increase 
of  over  two  thousand  during  the  year. 

The  conference  met  in  Augusta,  January  11,  1827.  There 
were  three  Bishops  present.  McKendree,  Roberts,  and  Soule. 
This  was  Soule's  second  visit  to  Georgia  as  bishop.  He  was 
now  about  forty-six  years  old.  He  was  as  erect  as  an  Indian, 
with  an  eye  of  most  piercing  brilliancy;  a  face  of  great  comeli- 
ness, expressive  of  great  courage  and  dignity.  He  was  every 
inch   a  commander,   and   thus   every  inch   a   Methodist   Bishop. 


Georgia  Methodism.  167 

He  had  now  been  a  preacher  for  twenty-eight  years.  For  half 
that  time  he  had  travelled  in  the  forests  of  Maine.  He  had 
braved  all  the  perils  of  the  wildest  frontier.  He  had  traversed 
almost  trackless  forests,  had  swam  angry  streams,  and  in  win- 
ter his  clothing  sometimes  froze  to  his  person  as  he  emerged 
from  the  torrent.  He  had  faced  highwaymen  in  the  Western 
wilds,  had  travelled  through  the  hunting  grounds  of  untamed 
savages,  had  been  exposed  to  every  peril  of  travel;  had  been 
the  target  for  the  arrows  of  brethren,  who  were  bitterly  hostile ; 
but  he  had  never  swerved  a  hair's  breadth  from  the  path  of 
duty,  nor  quailed  before  any  danger.  During  this  conference 
he  preached  a  sermon  on  "The  Perfect  Law  of  Liberty,"  which 
Dr.  Few,  no  unfit  judge,  declared  to  be  the  greatest  sermon  he 
had  ever  heard ;  but  which  was  foolishly  denounced  as  heretical. 
An  attack  was  made  upon  it  in  the  Charleton  Observer,  and  Dr. 
Capers  came  to  its  defence.  At  the  general  Conference  of  1828 
the  charge  was  referred  to  a  committee,  who  found  no  fault  in 
the  sermon.  It  was  nearly  forty  years  after  this  that  this 
grand  old  man  passed  away  in  holy  triumph,  crying  out  with  his 
last  breath,  "Push  on  the  great  work."  His  life  is  so  inter- 
woven with  the  history  of  Methodism  in  Georgia,  that  we  shall 
see  him  again,  and  oftentime.  Joshua  Soule  had  few  peers 
among  even  great  men.  He  was  a  man  if  not  of  colossal  intel- 
lect, certainly  of  colossal  spirit ;  fearless  of  every  danger,  clear- 
headed, conscientious,  he  was  a  commander  whom  men  might 
well  consent  to  obey;  a  leader  whom  all  might  safely  follow. 

At  this  conference  Thomas  Samford  was  placed  on  the 
Athens  District.  These  were  his  days  of  strength,  and  he  trav- 
elled a  district  extending  from  the  mountains  of  Habersham 
to  the  Flint  River  in  Fayette,  and  in  old  Georgia  and  made  his 
power  felt  everywhere. 

Wm.  Arnold  was  now  placed  in  charge  of  the  Milledgeville 
District,  and  Samuel  K.  Hodges  sent  to  the  Milledgeville  sta- 
tion. John  Howard  was  again  at  Washington,  and  Lewis  My- 
ers, worn  down  by  hard  labor,  retired  to  his  farm  in  Effingham 
County,  to  work  for,  pray  for,  and  think  for  the  church  of  his 
love.  The  work  in  Florida  still  goes  on,  and  the  missionary 
reaches  the  remote  settler  in  the  far  East  and  in  the  far  West. 

The  Chattahoochee  Circuit  had  on  it  this  year  a  young  man 
who  was  to  make  his  name  known  all  over  the  Southern  work. 
This  was  Jesse  Boring. 

Jesse  was  the  brother  of  Isaac  Boring,  and  was  two  years  his 
junior.     He  had  been  a  Christian  from  his  early  boyhood,  and 


168  History  of 

was  but  eighteen  years  old  when  he  was  received  into  the  con- 
ference and  sent  to  this  remote  circuit.  His  parents  were  then 
living  in  Gwinnett  County.  He  must  ride  from  the  mountains 
through  the  Indian  country  for  several  hundred  miles  to  reach 
his  first  circuit,  which  extended  to  the  Gulf.  He  found  the 
people  of  the  rudest  type  of  frontiersmen,  the  houses  far  apart, 
the  forest  almost  unbroken,  and  a  ride  of  over  300  miles  each 
month,  extending  into  three  States,  before  him.  His  home  had 
been  the  home  of  refinement  and  piety.  He  was  a  shrinking 
and  gentle-spirited  lad;  and  now,  at  only  eighteen,  he  was 
thrown  among  strangers,  and  exposed  to  all  the  perils  of  the 
wilderness.  His  presiding  elder,  used  to  hardships  and  to  dan- 
gers himself,  had  but  little  sympathy  for  one  so  woman-like  and 
gentle,  and  told  him  he  had  better  go  back  to  his  mother;  but 
the  great  heart  of  Elisha  Callaway,  his  colleague,  yearned  over 
him  as  over  a  son,  and  he  tenderly  encouraged  and  comforted 
him,  and  thus  Jesse  Boring  passed  his  first  year.  What  his  after 
career  has  been,  this  history  can  only  tell,  as  we  meet  with  him 
on  our  way ;  and  yet  it  would  not  be  an  unprofitable  story  for 
a  young  preacher  to  hear,  of  how,  amid  such  difficulties  as  these, 
Jesse  Boring  won  his  way  to  the  front  rank  among  pulpit  ora- 
tors in  America,  and  secured  a  cultivation  of  mind  not  often 
secured  by  the  inmates  of  college  halls. 

This  was  a  year  of  wonderful  revival  power  in  Georgia  and 
Florida.  Not  only  were  the  Methodists  greatly  blessed,  but 
their  faithful  colaborers,  the  Baptists,  reaped  a  grand  harvest. 
One  cannot  withhold  his  tribute  of  praise  to  the  noble,  self- 
sacrificing  men  of  God  who  labored  in  this  Church.  Jacob 
King,  Zechariah  Gordon,  Head  Garland,  Milner,  in  western 
Georgia,  John  E.  Dawson,  Jesse  Mercer,  now  in  his  old  age, 
Screven  Brantley,  Kilpatrick,  in  the  East,  were  strong  men  and 
good  men.  As  yet  there  was  no  division  in  the  Church,  and 
Mosely  and  others,  who  were  on  the  anti-missionary  side  in 
after-time,  were  at  this  time  efficient  revivalists.  The  revival 
influence  was  not  confined  to  one  section  of  the  State.  There 
was  a  great  meeting  in  Milledgeville.  William  Arnold  was  Pre- 
siding Elder  of  the  Milledgeville  District.  James  O.  Andrew, 
who  had  come  on  a  visit  from  South  Carolina,  where  he  was 
stationed,  John  Howard  and  Lovick  Pierce  and  Stephen  Olin, 
all  united  to  work  for  Milledgeville.  A  large  bush  arbor  was 
erected,  and  the  services  were  like  those  of  a  camp-meeting. 
The  preaching  was  with  power,  and  the  results  were  glorious. 
In  this  four  days'  meeting  over  one  hundred  were  converted. 


A  GROUP  OF   METHODIST  BISHOPS. 


REV.    W.    A.    I  M  I]  iGE 


REV.  <:.  G.   X.  MAC]  ><  >NNEL,L, 
South    Georgia    Conference. 


Georgia  Methodism.  171 

During  this  year  some  of  the  same  corps  of  revivalists  went 
to  Washington.  The  population  of  that  promising  town  was 
noted  for  wealth,  hospitality,  refinement,  and,  alas,  for  skepti- 
cism and  wickedness.  John  Howard  was  preacher  in  charge  of 
Washington,  and  Pierce  and  Olin  came  to  his  help.  ■  Olin 
preached  with  matchless  power,  and  under  one  of  his  sermons 
on  evidences  all  skepticism  took  flight.  A  wonderful  work  fol- 
lowed, and  over  ioo  were  added  to  the  Church.  From  this 
time  forward  Washington  has  been  a  most  desirable  appoint- 
ment. For  forty  years,  under  the  old  circuit  plan,  no  impress 
had  been  made  on  the  town,  and  when  Thomas  Darley  came  in 
1824,  there  was  no  church  building,  and  only  fourteen  members. 
After  this  a  church  was  built ;  but  although  the  ablest  ministers 
supplied  the  pulpit,  there  had  not  been  much  success ;  but  this 
year  it  came. 

In  Greensboro,  Howard  and  Pierce  had  their  homes,  and 
there  Adiel  Sherwood  and  others  of  the  Baptist  Church  resided 
also.  They  determined  to  storm  the  battlements,  and  began  a 
meeting.  Augustus  B.  Longstreet  was  Judge  of  the  Circuit 
Court.  He  was  highly  educated,  had  been  religiously  trained  by 
a  Presbyterian  mother,  and  was,  while  moral  and  upright  in 
conduct,  in  religion  a  skeptic.  He  had  married  a  Methodist,  he 
lived  in  a  Methodist  family,  and  when  his  first  keen  sorrow 
came  in  the  death  of  his  little  boy,  he  found  no  comfort  in  his 
cheerless  creed  of  doubt.  His  brother-in-law  told  him  of  Christ. 
He  began  to  study  Jesus ;  he  believed ;  though  as  yet  he  did  not 
trust.  He  came  to  the  meeting.  Adiel  Sherwood  preached,  and 
John  Howard  followed  him  in  an  exhortation.  Penitents  were 
invited  forward,  and  Judge  Longstreet  came  with  them.  God 
converted  him.  He  soon  began  to  preach,  and  we  shall  see  him 
again.  The  Appalachee  Circuit  was  ablaze.  Athens  had  a  pre- 
cious revival.  At  Bear  Creek,  in  Newton,  nearly  300,  accord- 
ing to  the  Methodist  Magazine,  were  converted.  Thomas  Sam- 
ford  wrote  to  the  magazine :  "The  Lord  is  doing  great  things  in 
Georgia.  Religion  pure  and  undefiled  may  now  be  seen  not 
only  in  the  church,  but  on  the  farms,  behind  the  counter,  at  the 
bar,  and  the  bench.  Some  of  our  courts  are  now  opened  with 
prayer  by  the  Judge  himself."  Wm.  Capers  writes:  "I  am  just 
from  Georgia.  The  work  there  has  been  transcendent  every 
way."  Allen  Turner  says :  "About  400  have  been  added  to  the 
Warren  Circuit." 

In  Madison,  Morgan  County,  there  had  up  to  this  time  been 
no  church  building,  but  during  the  revival  of  this  year,  so  many 


172  History  of 

were  received  into  the  communion  that  a  church  was  built.  The 
village  of  Greensboro  was  founded  in  1786,  and  as  Greene  was 
in  the  circuit  of  Humphries  and  Major,  the  Methodist  preach- 
ers probably  preached  in  the  town  almost  as  soon  as  it  was  set- 
tled;  but,  when  Bishop  Asbury  visited  it  in  1799,  there  was  as 
yet  no  Methodist  church,  and  he  preached  in  the  Presbyterian. 
Some  time  after  there  was  a  little  log-church  built  on  the  out- 
skirts of  the  town,  but  after  Dr.  Pierce  settled  there,  in  1815, 
at  his  instance  a  better  house  was  built,  on  a  better  lot,  and  he 
incautiously  assumed  the  whole  pecuniary  responsibility,  from 
which  he  was  not  relieved  till  after  this  great  revival  in  1827. 

This  was  the  first  year  an  appointment  was  made  to  Macon, 
of  which  we  have  given  account  in  another  chapter. 

While  the  work  was  so  fruitful  in  blessings  in  the  older  coun- 
ties, all  over  the  new  country  the  revival  fire  blazed.  Baptists 
and  Methodists  alike  participated  in  the  blessings.  In  Florida, 
too,  there  was  the  same  precious  results.  On  the  Tallahassee 
and  Peace  River  Mission  the  membership  was  more  than  dou- 
bled. Camp-meetings  were  held  in  every  circuit  in  Georgia,  and 
a  blessing  attended  them  all.  Perhaps  no  year  in  the  history  of 
the  Church  in  Georgia  has  been  one  of  richer  interest  than  that 
of  1827. 

The  conference  for  1828  met  in  Camden,  S.  C.  Bishop  Soule 
presided.  There  was  an  increase  of  nearly  4,000  white  mem- 
bers.    The  Church  had  doubled  its  membership  since  1823. 

At  this  session  there  was  an  election  for  delegates  to  the  gen- 
eral conference,  which  was  to  meet  in  May.  The  delegates 
elected  were  James  O.  Andrew,  Capers,  Kennedy,  Pierce,  Bass, 
Dunwoody,  Hodges,  Geo.  Hill,  Arnold,  Hammill,  McPherson, 
Adams,  and  Elijah  Sinclair. 

Lewis  Myers  was  unable  to  take  the  long  journey  to  Pitts- 
burg, and  was  not  elected.  The  proceedings  of  this  general  con- 
ference were  unimportant.  The  greater  part  of  the  session  was 
taken  up  in  hearing  appeals,  and  in  meeting  some  of  the  ques- 
tions which  had  sprung  up  during  the  excitement  of  the  last 
four  years.  Wm.  Capers  and  Joshua  Soule  were  selected  as  fra- 
ternal messengers  to  the  Wesleyan  Conference  in  England. 

There  was  to  be  still  further  enlargement  in  the  work  in 
Georgia.  The  territory  west  of  the  Flint  River  was  now  open  to 
settlers.  It  was  even  superior  in  fertility  to  that  which  adjoined 
it  on  the  east,  and  was  soon  thickly  peopled.  At  once  the  mis- 
sionary was  sent.  Coweta  and  Carroll  were  made  a  circuit,  and 
a  supply  from  the  local  ranks  selected.     John  Hunter  was  sent 


Georgia  Methodism.  173 

to  the  Troup  Mission,  and  James  Stockdale  to  Columbus.  Up- 
son was  made  a  separate  circuit,  and  James  Dunwoody  was 
sent  to  it.  Although  Jacob  King  and  Zachariah  Gordon,  of  the 
Baptist  Church,  had  received  several  hundred  in  this  county 
into  the  Baptist  Church,  there  were  still  491  Methodists  in  Up- 
son. In  the  new  country  of  southwest  Georgia  a  mission  was 
formed,  called  the  Lee  Mission,  and  Morgan  Turrentine  was 
sent  to  it.  This  was  the  introduction  of  the  church  into  the 
counties  of  Sumter,  Lee,  Randolph  and  Stewart.  John  Howard, 
after  having  been  nominally  local  for  several  years,  re-entered 
the  regular  work,  and  was  returned  to  Washington. 

James  Dannelly,  who  for  several  years  had  travelled  in  South 
Carolina,  was  sent  to  the  Little  River  Circuit.  Uncle  Jimmy 
Dannelly,  as  he  was  generally  called,  was  a  remarkable  man.  He 
was  born  in  Columbia  County  in  1786.  He  grew  up  to  manhood 
with  but  little  mental  and  still  less  moral  training;  he  became 
very  dissipated,  and  while  leading  this  wayward  life,  lost  a  leg. 
When  he  was  thirty  years  old  he  was  converted,  and  soon  after 
licensed  to  preach.  After  travelling  from  1818  in  the  South 
Carolina  part  of  the  conference,  he  came  to  Georgia.  After  the 
division  of  the  conference  he  remained  in  South  Carolina,  and 
was  superannuated  in  1835.  In  1835  he  died.  He  was  noted 
for  his  sometimes  moving  eloquence,  and  for  his  more  frequent 
sharpness  of  rebuke.  He  was  a  terror  to  evil-doers.  Sarcasm 
was  his  favorite  weapon,  and  he  did  not  always  spare  his 
friends.  He  seemed  to  feel  it  a  duty  to  be  severe.  Some  of  the 
authentic  stories  told  of  him  are  amusing  illustrations  of  this 
proclivity,  but  like  all  things  of  the  kind  lose  much  of  their  flavor 
in  putting  them  on  paper. 

Once  old  Father  Perryman,  an  old  Baptist  preacher,  said  to 
him: 

"Brother  Dannelly,  you  have  heard  me  preach?" 

"No!" 

In  vain  the  old  gentleman  tried  to  bring  to  his  remembrance 
the  times  when  they  had  been  together;  still  Uncle  Jimmy  de- 
nied that  he  had  ever  heard  him  preach ;  at  last  he  sharply  said, 
"No,  Brother  Perryman,  I  never  heard  you  preach,  but  I  have 
heard  you  try  many  a  time." 

Another  good  Baptist  twitted  him  with  having  baptized  some 
of  his  sheep. 

"They  were  not  my  sheep." 

"Did  they  not  belong  to  such  a  church?" 

"Yes,  but  they  were  not  my  sheep." 


X74  History  of 

"Well,  what  were  they?" 

"Why,  they  were  my  hogs." 

"How  do  you  make  that  out?" 

"From  the   Bible." 

"How?" 

"Why,  the  Bible  says  the  devil  entered  in  the  swine,  and  they 
took  to  the  water  right  away." 

One  day,  he  was  at  camp-meeting  with  Bishop  Pierce  when 
he  was  a  presiding  elder.     Of  course  he  was  asked  to  preach. 

"George,"  said  he,  "shall  I  rake  'em?" 

"Do  as  you  please,  Uncle  Jimmy." 

"But,  George,  shall  I  rake  'em?" 

"Well,  if  I  have  my  preference,  I'd  rather  you  would  not  do 
so." 

He  went  to  the  stand,  and  preached  a  moving,  pathetic  ser- 
mon on  the  discouragements  of  the  Christian.  All  were  melted 
and  comforted ;  when  he  returned  to  the  tent,  however,  he  was 
sad.  "George,"  said  he,  "I  did  wrong.  I  ought  to  have  raked 
em. 

John  Wimbish  entered  into  the  regular  work  this  year,  and 
with  AT.  Bedell,  afterward  prominent  in  the  Florida  work,  he 
was  on  the  Monroe  Circuit.  He  had  been  many  years  a  local 
preacher,  and  in  those  days,  when  hyper  Calvinism  of  the  ex- 
tremist type  was  often  preached,  he  felt  himself  called  upon  to 
defend  what  he  believed  was  the  truth,  and  was  very  able  on 
the  Arminian  view  of  the  doctrines  of  grace. 

On  the  Warren  Circuit  with  Allen  Turner  was  a  young  man, 
the  nephew  of  Wm.  Arnold,  W.  P.  Arnold.  For  forty  years  he 
was  an  active,  popular  and  useful  "preacher.  Genial,  social,  full  of 
humor,  simple  in  his  manners,  without  ambition  or  jealousy,  few 
men  have  been  more  lovable  or  more  loved.  He  was  at  one  time 
a  man  of  property,  but  as  his  plantation  cares  interfered  with 
his  ministry,  he  sold  his  land  and  lost  the  debt.  He  however 
cheerfully  labored  on,  sometimes  even  walking  his  circuit.  In 
1870  he  was  appointed  to  the  Alilledgeville  station,  but  before  his 
removal  to  it  he  was  stricken  with  apoplexy,  and  died  with  a 
single  groan. 

George  Pournell  began  his  work  this  year.  He  was  a  man  of 
very  deep  piety,  and  did  most  efficient  work  on  the  hardest  mis- 
sions in  the  conference,  until  1835,  when  he  located. 

Continuing  the  course  which  had  been  so  successful  in 
Greene,  Wilkes,  and  Clarke,  two  other  small  towns  were  united 
in  a  station,  and  Lovick  Pierce  was  sent  to  Eatonton  and  Madi- 


Georgia  Methodism.  175 

son.  The  two  villages  were  at  that  time  both  very  flourishing, 
and  were  seats  of  refinement  and  wealth.  Madison  was  laid 
out  in  1807,  and  from  its  settlement  had  been  an  appointment 
in  the  Appalachee  Circuit,  which  had  been  served  by  the  ablest 
men  in  the  conference.  The  County  of  Morgan  was  very  popu- 
lous, the  lands  were  generally  good,  and  those  on  the  rivers  and 
creeks  were  very  good.  The  first  church  in  Madison  was  built 
about  1825. 

Eatonton,  the  county  site  of  Putnam,  was  laid  out  at  the  same 
time,  and  had  now  been  settled  for  twenty  years.  It  was  an 
appointment  in  the  Alcovi  Circuit,  which  next  to  the  Appalachee 
had  been  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  Middle  Georgia 
Circuits. 

The  old  Putnam  camp-ground  had  been  the  scene  of  many 
great  revivals,  and  Methodism  was  strong  in  every  way  in  the 
county.  Dr.  Pierce,  who  now  had  charge  of  the  two  villages, 
lived  in  Greensboro,  but  occupied  the  pulpit  each  Sabbath, 
spending  a  large  part  of  the  time  in  the  work  assigned  him. 

Josiah  Flournoy  was  the  leading  member  of  the  Church  in 
Eatonton.  He  had  descended  from  the  Huguenots,  who  had 
settled  on  the  James  River,  in  Virginia.  His  mother  was  a  Bap- 
tist, and  his  father  one  in  feeling.  Josiah  and  Robert,  his 
brother,  had  been  converted  among  the  Methodists,  and  united 
with  them,  and  when  he  removed  to  Putnam  he  took  charge  of 
the  little  class. 

There  was  no  church  previous  to  1819,  and  public  worship 
was  held  in  the  academy  of  the  town.  For  years  Josiah  Flour- 
noy stood  almost  alone.  His  associates  and  friends  were  all  of 
them  irreligious,  and  many  of  the  leading  men  gamblers  and  in- 
fidels. The  Rev.  Mr.  Pendleton,  a  member  of  the  Christian 
Church,  had  moved  to  the  community,  and  was  clerk  of  the 
court.  He  was  a  Virginia  gentleman  of  liberal  views,  and  deter- 
mined to  have  a  church  built.  It  was  to  be  a  fine  church  and  a 
union  church.  The  Baptists,  Methodists,  Presbyterians,  and 
Christians  were  to  have  one  Sunday  each.  He  succeeded  in  his 
effort,  and  the  handsomest  church  in  Middle  Georgia  was 
erected.  Not  long  after  this  Wm.  Capers  visited  the  county  in 
the  interests  of  the  Asbury  Mission.  He  attracted  then,  as  he 
always  did,  great  crowds,  and  at  the  Putnam  camp-meeting  he 
achieved  the  grandest  pulpit  triumph  of  his  life.  It  was  in  an 
exhortation  delivered  after  a  sermon,  in  which  the  fearful  woes 
of  a  lost  soul  were  depicted.  One  man  was  so  affected  by  the 
preacher's  eloquence  as  to  temporarily  lose  his  mind,  and  many 


176  History  of 

prominent  men  were  brought  to  deep  conviction  and  joyous  con- 
version. Among  them  were  those  who  became  eminent  in 
church  and  state.  Dr.  Henry  Branham  was  one  of  them.  He 
was  an  accomplished  physician  and  a  man  of  very  fine  native 
mind,  but  he  was  very  ungodly.  Among  his  ruling  passions  was 
that  of  gaming,  too  common  then  among  respectable  people.  As 
soon  as  he  was  converted,  he  sought  out  the  men  from  whom  he 
had  won  money,  and  returned  it  to  them.  He  was  from  this  time 
forth  a  leader  in  all  good  things.  His  son  Walter  and  two  grand- 
sons served  in  the  conference.  Eatonton  had  now  a  strong  mem- 
bership, and  was  united  with  Madison,  twenty-five  miles  away, 
and  Dr.  Pierce  was  sent  to  it. 

Josiah  Flournoy,  of  whom  mention  was  made  above,  was  a 
striking  character,  a  man  of  great  energy  and  enterprise,  and 
one  of  inflexible  integrity.  He  had  great  respect  for  hard  work, 
and  said  whenever  he  found  a  man  at  the  mourner's  bench  whose 
hand  was  hard  from  labor,  he  felt  that  the  man  would  be  con- 
verted; but  if  his  hand  was  soft  and  delicate,  he  was  not  so  sure. 
He  was  the  originator  of  the  prohibitory  liquor  movement  in 
Georgia,  and  when  it  required  far  more  courage  than  it  deos 
now  to  attack  the  evil,  he  made  a  bold,  if  unsuccessful  attack 
upon  it.  He  gave  a  large  endowment  for  a  manual  labor  school 
in  Talbot  County,  and  was  one  of  the  generous  friends  of  Emory 
College,  contributing  at  one  time  six  hundred  dollars  for  its  re- 
lief. His  family  follows  in  his  footsteps,  and  his  descendants 
are  among  the  truest  members  of  the  Church  in  the  State  now. 

Dr.  E.  M.  Pendleton,  the  son  of  the  Rev.  Coleman  Pendleton, 
of  whom  we  have  spoken,  has  furnished  for  this  history  the  fol- 
lowing interesting  sketch  of  this  excellent  man : 

"Josiah  Flournoy,  a  layman,  was  a  man  remarkable  for  his 
prayers,  public  exhortations,  and  labor  at  the  altar.  He  was 
quite  wealthy,  owning  a  large  number  of  negroes,  and  several 
plantations.  He  carried  on  all  his  secular  concerns  with  great 
system,  energy,  and  stringency,  but  was  at  the  same  time  prompt 
in  all  his  religious  duties  and  obligations.  He  was  always  present 
when  not  providentially  hindered  in  the  old  class-house  at  Eaton- 
ton,  with  the  whites  first,  and  then  with  the  colored  on  Sunday 
afternoon,  praying  and  exhorting  them  with  much  effect.  At 
camp-meeting  he  was  a  great  power,  not  only  managing  accom- 
modations for  the  preachers  and  visitants,  but  in  the  altar,  and 
sometimes  in  the  pulpit. 

"Although  not  a  preacher,  he  was  often  allowed  an  hour  to 
expound  the  word  and  bring  some  important  matter  before  the 
people. 


Georgta  Methodism.  177 

"I  remember  him  well  at  the  great  camp-meeting  in  Monroe 
County  in  1832,  when  hundreds  were  awakened  and  converted. 
He  most  generally  took  the  outskirts  of  the  congregation  among 
the  men  lookers-on,  and  would  exhort  them  until  the  effect  be- 
came apparent,  and  then  he  would  pray  for  them.  In  this  way 
he  would  soon  gather  a  batch  of  mourners,  praying,  singing,  and 
applying  the  promises  for  hours  together.  In  fact,  the  whole 
day  and  a  good  part  of  the  night  were  thus  employed  by  him  and 
others  in  this  way. 

"The  last  time  I  ever  saw  Josiah  Flournoy  was  in  his  great 
temperance  enterprise  in  1839.  He  endeavored  to  convince  the 
people  of  Georgia  of  the  necessity  of  passing  stringent  laws 
against  the  sale  of  spirituous  liquor.  For  this  purpose  he  com- 
bined all  the  temperance  element  of  the  State,  going  from  town 
to  town,  from  church  to  church,  holding  meetings,  and  getting 
subscribers  to  his  petition.  He  enlisted  Judge  Sayre  of  Sparta, 
and  other  prominent  men. 

"He  went  to  nearly  every  county  in  the  State  on  this  mission, 
and  was  treated  very  badly  in  several  places  by  the  sons  of  Be- 
lial. At  Clinton  they  shaved  the  tail  of  his  horse,  at  other  places 
he  received  personal  indignities,  and  his  life  was  threatened. 
Although  his  effort  was  a  failure,  yet  no  doubt  it  accomplished 
much  good,  which  will  be  revealed  in  the  day  of  eternity." 

Dr.  Pendleton  also  says  that  the  man  who  lost  his  mind  from 
the  effect  of  Bishop  Capers'  sermon,  after  three  months  insanity 
recovered  it,  and  lived  a  good  man  afterwards.  Bishop  Capers 
did  not  hear  of  his  recovery  for  some  years,  and  when  he  did  it 
was  much  to  his  gratification.  At  the  camp-meeting  of  this  year 
in  Putnam,  James  O.  Andrew,  John  Howard  and  Joseph  Travis 
were  present,  and  there  was  much  good  done. 

During  this  year  there  was  a  precious  revival  in  Athens.  Many 
of  the  students  were  converted.  There  was  a  great  work  in 
Walton  and  Gwinnett. 

Tere.  Norman  was  in  charge  of  the  Houston  Mission,  which 
embraced  all  the  country  south  of  Macon,  to  the  Early  Mission. 
He  bore  the  name  of  one  of  the  first  travelling  preachers,  and 
was  probably  a  kinsman  of  his.  He  was  a  man  of  very  deep 
piety  and  very  fine  gifts.  He  was,  however,  one  of  the  ugliest 
of  men,  and  once  Thomas  Darley,  his  colleague,  gave  out  an  ap- 
pointment for  him  by  saying:  "If  you  will  be  here  two  weeks 
from  today,  you  will  see  one  of  the  ugliest  men  and  hear  one  of 
the  best  preachers  in  the  connection." 

John  H.  Robinson,  who  was  on  the  large  Ocmulgee  Circuit 


178  History  of 

this  year,  was  from  Bibb  County.  He  was  a  good  man  and  a 
faithful  preacher  for  over  forty  years,  and  died  in  the  work, 
although  for  a  few  years  before  his  death  he  had  been  super- 
annuated. 

Although  there  was  some  decrease  in  the  older  sections,  such 
was  the  prosperity  in  the  new  country  that  there  was  considera- 
ble increase  in  the  aggregate  membership.  The  conference  met 
in  Milledgeville,  January  12,  1826,  Bishop  Soule  presiding. 

At  this  conference,  Stephen  Olin  was  ordained  a  deacon.  He 
was  a  Vermonter,  and  was  now  in  the  twenty-ninth  year  of  his 
age.  After  his  graduation  at  college,  he  had  come  to  the  South 
to  teach  a  school  and  to  recruit  his  health.  If  he  was  not  at  this 
time  an  infidel,  he  was  a  skeptic.  The  academy  to  which  he  was 
called  was  the  Tabernacle  Academy,  in  Abbeville  District,  S.  C, 
which  had  been  established  by  some  Methodists.  The  Master 
was  required  to  open  the  school  with  prayer,  and  though  Olin 
was  not  a  believer,  yet  he  consented  to  meet  the  demand.  He 
became  very  restless  under  this  state  of  things,  and  was  deeply 
convicted  of  sin.  He  began  to  examine  the  evidence  of  the  Di- 
vine origin  of  Christianity.  His  intellect  was  soon  convinced, 
and  his  heart  was  soon  at  rest,  and  not  long  after  he  began  to 
preach,  at  one  bound,  he  reached  the  foremost  place  among 
Southern  Methodist  preachers.  He  gave  himself  with  ardor  to 
the  work,  and  united  with  the  conference.  He  was  sent  to 
Charleston  with  James  O.  Andrew  for  his  presiding  elder,  and 
John  Howard  as  his  senior  preacher.  Here  he  attracted  great 
attention,  but  his  health  failed  him.  His  after  life  was  almost 
a  continual  battle  with  feebleness.  He  was  unable  to  continue 
his  pastorate,  and  was  elected  professor  of  belles-lettres  at 
Athens.  He  thus  became  a  citizen  of  Georgia.  He  married  one 
of  the  loveliest  of  women.  Miss  Mary  Ann  Bostwick,  one  whose 
family  position  was  the  highest,  and  one  whose  beauty  was  the 
pride  of  her  State;  she  was  withal  a  simple-hearted  Christian. 
He  now  settled  himself  in  Athens.  Here  he  did  wonderful 
preaching,  and  was,  as  far  as  strength  permitted,  fully  devoted 
to  his  work.  When  Randolph  Macon  College  was  founded,  he 
was  elected  its  president,  but  failing  health  drove  him  from  his 
place  there  and  exiled  him  to  Europe.  He  returned  to  his  be- 
loved South  no  more.  His  gentle  wife  died  in  Naples,  Italy, 
and  when  he  returned  to  America,  he  sought  the  more  bracing 
climate  of  the  North,  and  was  elected  president  of  the  Wesleyan 
University   of  Middletown,   Conn. 

The  abolition  excitement  in  New  England  was  now  intense. 


Georgia  Methodism.  179 

Olin  had  been  a  slaveholder,  and  was  now  in  the  possession  of 
a  considerable  estate  derived  from  the  sale  of  his  slaves.  He  be- 
lieved his  New  England  brethren  were  sadly  mistaken  and  sadly 
unwise  in  their  course,  but  he  could  not  stay  the  tide.  He  was 
elected  to  the  General  Conference  of  1844.  He  saw,  before  the 
conference  met,  that  the  issue  must  come,  but  still  hoped  for 
peace;  and,  to  add  to  his  embarrassment  and  to  his  sorrow,  the 
victim  chosen  was  James  O.  Andrew,  his  dearest  earthly  friend. 
The  question  was  at  length  before  the  conference.  Should  he 
vote  against  his  friend  by  voting  for  the  Finley  resolutions? 
Olin  thought  in  no  other  way  could  the  Church  in  New  England 
be  saved.  Bishop  Andrew  told  the  writer  that  the  evening  be- 
fore the  vote  was  taken,  Olin  took  him  aside  and  said  to  him : 

"James,  you  know  I  love  you,  and  you  know  I  do  not  blame 
you  for  the  course  you  have  taken,  and  yet  I  shall  vote  for  the 
resolution  tomorrow.  It  is  the  only  way  to  save  the  Church  in 
the  North ;  the  South  will  go  off,  but  it  will  do  so  en  masse  and 
united.  If  we  do  not  pass  this  resolution,  the  North  will  go  off 
in  fragments,  and  there  will  be  only  strife  and  bitterness."  The 
next  day  he  did  so  vote.  He  lost  many  friends  in  the  South ; 
many  who  had  greatly  admired  him  bitterly  denounced  him,  but 
he  did  not  lose  his  place  in  the  great  heart  of  Bishop  Andrew, 
for  that  grand  old  man  spoke  of  him  as  lovingly  at  the  last  as 
though  Olin  had  stood  by  him  bravely  through  the  conflict.  Olin 
earnestly  advocated  the  plan  of  separation,  and  lost  many  friends 
on  the  other  side  by  his  advocacy  of  it.  He  never  ceased  to 
love  the  South,  nor  did  the  South  cease  to  love  him.  Here  he 
had  won  his  first  souls  for  Christ.  Here  he  had  gained  what 
he  cared  for  least,  his  first  pulpit  and  platform  fame.  Here  he 
married  his  first  beautiful  wife,  and  here  much  of  his  heart 
always  was. 

Stephen  Olin  never  had  a  superior  in  the  American  pulpit,  and 
it  is  doubtful  whether  in  any  sphere  of  public  life  there  was  a 
greater  mind  than  his. 

He  was  so  identified  with  the  Georgia  work,  that  we  shall  see 
him  often  as  we  pursue  this  history. 

Charles  Hardy,  a  very  gifted  young  man,  was  in  Savannah 
this  year.  He  was  the  son  of  pious  parents  in  Lincoln  County; 
was  converted  when  a  boy,  and  began  to  travel  ere  his  majority. 
He  evinced  fine  qualities  as  a  preacher  from  the  beginning,  and 
did  most  valuable  work,  filling  the  best  appointments  until  his 
health  failed  him.  He  then  retired  for  a  short  time,  and  located 
and  settled  in  Culloden.     He  was  a  man  of  very  liberal  views, 


130  History  of 

and,  for  that  time,  of  large  wealth.  He  gave  $1,000  to  Emory 
College,  and  was  for  one  year  its  agent.  He  was  one  of  the 
fathers  of  the  Manual  Labor  School,  and  a  leading  friend  of  the 
High  School  at  Culloden,  which  was  tendered  to  the  conference 
before  there  was  a  Methodist  school  in  the  State.  His  ardent 
temperament  led  him  into  large  land  speculations,  and  in  the 
crash  of  1839-40  he  lost  his  estate.  He  removed  to  Alabama, 
and  was  appointed  as  a  supply  to  the  Tuscaloosa  station.  He 
would  have  entered  the  traveling  ministry  again  if  his  life  had 
been  spared,  but  that  year  he  died.  He  was  a  highly  gifted  man, 
and  would  probably  have  reached  the  highest  place  if  he  had 
never  deviated  from  his  life-work. 

LaGrange  first  appears  as  an  appointment  this  year,  under 
the  charge  of  John  Hunter.  LaGrange  was  the  county-site  of 
Troup  County,  and  was  laid  out  in  1827.  The  county  is  on  the 
western  border  of  the  State,  and  at  that  time  was  one  of  the 
most  fertile  and  healthy  in  it.  The  circuit  included  a  part  of 
the  at  present  county  of  Harris,  all  Meriwether,  and  a  part  of 
Heard,  in  addition  to  all  of  Troup.  The  church  in  LaGrange 
was  organized  in  January  of  the  year  1828,  and  Caleb  W.  Key, 
then  a  young  married  man,  who  had  moved  to  this  new  village 
from  McDonough,  was  one  of  the  twelve  members  who  made 
the  church,  and  was  the  first  class-leader. 

Troup,  Harris,  and  Meriwether  presented  great  inducements 
to  settlers,  and  they  were  soon  settled  by  a  most  admirable  body 
of  people,  a  very  large  part  of  whom  were  from  Greene  County. 
After  the  establishment  of  the  society  in  LaGrange,  a  log- 
church,  the  first  of  any  name  in  the  town,  was  built.  This  gave 
way  in  a  few  years  to  a  larger  framed  building.  Until  the  great 
revival  of  1838,  this  plain  shell  was  the  only  place  of  worship 
among  the  Methodists.  At  that  time  the  Church  was  very 
wealthy,  but  it  contented  itself  with  making  the  old  building  com- 
fortable. After  the  building  of  the  LaGrange  Female  College, 
rmd  the  large  increase  in  the  population  of  the  town,  a  very 
handsome  and  commodious  brick  church  was  completed,  which 
gave  way  later  to  a  very  handsome  and  convenient  building. 
Thomas  Stanley,  Thomas  Samford,  Walter  T.  Colquitt  and  Alex- 
ander Speer  were  among  the  preachers  who  had  their  homes  in  La- 
Grange ;  and  George  Heard,  who  had  been  a  Methodist  in 
Greene,  removed  to  it  in  1838.  He  was  an  earnest,  devoted 
Methodist,  a  man  of  very  great  business  capacity,  conducting 
very  large  planting  interests.  He  lived  to  see  the  Church  greatly 
blessed  bv  a  remarkable  revival,  and  after  seeing  all  his  children 


Georgia  Methodism.  181 

converted,  in  a  ripe  old  age  he  passed  away.  He  was  a  man  of 
striking  peculiarities,  and  became  a  Christian  in  a  somewhat 
remarkable  way.  A  pushing  business  man,  one  day  he  was  cal- 
culating what  his  crop  would  bring,  what  he  would  buy  with  it, 
when  he  suddenly  stopped.  "Why,  George  Heard!  you  can  cal- 
culate about  this  world;  what  about  your  soul?"  He  began  to 
pray,  and  God  converted  him. 

The  Rev.  P.  A.  Heard,  of  the  North  Georgia  Conference, 
was  his  son. 

James  Stockdale  at  this  conference  was  appointed  to  the  Co- 
lumbus Mission.  He  was  to  explore  and  organize  the  Church 
in  the  new  country  west  of  the  Flint,  which  was  just  opened  to 
settlers.  His  mission  embraced  Muscogee,  Talbot,  and  a  part 
of  Harris.  He  left  his  home  in  South  Carolina,  and  reached 
the  eastern  part  of  his  circuit  early  in  1828.  Wbile  crossing 
the  Flint  at  a  ferry  in  Talbot  County,  he  inquired  if  there  were 
any  Methodists  near  by,  and  was  referred  to  Josiah  Matthews, 
who  was  living  in  1877.  He  was  gladly  received,  and  the  few 
scattered  inhabitants  were  called  together,  and  a  society  was 
formed,  and  soon  after  a  log-church  built.  This  was  probably 
the  first  church  west  of  the  Flint.  It  was  known  as  Corinth. 
The  log-church  soon  gave  way  to  a  better  one,  and  now  there 
is  a  handsome  country  church,  with  a  large  society  in  its  place; 
and  Josiah  Matthews,  with  a  large  family  of  descendants,  still 
holds  his  place  among  its  members.* 

This  year  Coweta  and  Carroll  appear  as  a  new  mission  left 
to  be  supplied.  As  Dabney  P.  Jones  was  living  in  Coweta,  and 
as  he  had  been  at  an  early  day  a  traveling  preacher,  it  is  prob- 
able he  was  the  supply.  It  is  certain  he  preached  the  first  ser- 
mon preached  in  the  town  of  Newnan,  in  the  little  log-house 
which  served  for  the  first  court-room.  The  circuit  was  very 
large,  including  not  only  all  of  Coweta,  but  all  of  Carroll  Coun- 
ties, extending  from  near  Atlanta  to  the  Alabama  line,  and  em- 
bracing a  country  a  part  of  which  was  rich  and  productive  and 
well-peopled,  and  a  part  of  it  wild  and  thinly  settled. 

In  the  year  1828  it  appears  regularly  supplied  from  the  con- 
ference. 

The  Florida  work  still  went  on  in  the  midst  of  difficulties.  A 
body  of  settlers  had  settled  on  Pease  River,  in  the  west  of  Flor- 
ida, and  a  camp-meeting  was  held  there.  Although  there  were 
not  more  than   150  people  present,  there  were  twenty-one  con- 

*MSS.  from  Eev.  W.  H.  Tegner. 


182  History  of 

versions.     In  the  far  west  of  Florida,  at  Holmes  Valley  Mission, 
there  was  also  a  successful  work. 

At  this  conference  Nathaniel  Rhodes  was  sent  to  Habersham 
County,  which  bordered  on  the  Cherokee  Nation,  and  whose 
beautiful  valleys  were  even  now  settled  by  the  adventurous  pio- 
neer. During  the  year  he  crossed  over  into  the  Nation,  and  joined 
hands  with  preachers  from  the  Tennessee  Conference,  who  were 
holding  a  camp-meeting  among  the  Indians.  There  were  fifteen 
or  twenty  Indians  converted. 

Benjamin  Pope  was  junior  on  the  Apalachee  Circuit  with 
Anderson  Ray.  He  was  connected  with  that  family  of  Popes 
who  have  been  identified  with  Methodism  in  Georgia  since  its 
introduction  into  the  State.  He  was  liberally  educated,  and  was 
a  man  of  ample  wealth. 

He  gave  himself  to  the  traveling  ministry  in  his  twenty-fourth 
year,  and  continued  to  travel  until  his  early  death,  in  1835.  Few 
men  have  more  richly  merited  or  more  generally  received  af- 
fection. He  was  pure,  eloquent,  accomplished,  welcome  to  the 
most  important  stations,  and  useful  in  all.  His  health  soon  gave 
way,  and  while  yet  young  he  died. 

Bond  English,  a  South  Carolinian,  took  Dr.  Capers'  place  on 
the  Milledgeville  Station.  Robert  Flournoy,  the  brother  of  Josiah 
Flournoy,  of  whom  we  have  spoken  and  shall  speak  again,  was 
made  presiding  elder  on  the  Savannah  District.  Flournoy  had 
been  converted  at  the  Sparta  camp-meeting,  and  had  entered  the 
conference.  He  traveled  some  years,  and  did  efficient  work,  then 
located  and  settled  in  Houston  County,  where  he  lived  a  local 
preacher  until  his  death.  Two  new  missions  were  enterprised: 
the  Fayette  Mission,  upon  which  John  Hunter  was  sent,  took 
the  lower  part  of  the  territory  included  in  the  Yellow  River  Mis- 
sion, and  the  Houston  Mission  included  a  part  of  the  Monroe 
Circuit,  and  all  the  country  south  of  it  to  the  Early  Mission. 
McCarrell  Purifoy  was  sent  to  it.  Lewis  Myers  took  the  Effing- 
ham Circuit  as  supernumerary. 

The  great  Ohoopee  Circuit  gave  up  enough  of  its  territory 
to  form  the  Liberty  Circuit,  and  Wilkes  County  for  the  first  time 
became  a  separate  circuit.  Thus  the  contraction  of  circuit  lines, 
and  the  increase  of  ministerial  force  went  on.  The  great  revival 
continued,  and  2,000  were  added  to  the  Church.  In  the  new  pur- 
chase the  revival  seems  to  have  been  continued.  Monroe,  Gwin- 
nett, Walton,  Yellow  River,  doubled  their  membership  this  year. 
There  was  especially  great  prosperity  in  the  Monroe  Circuit, 
which  then  included  Pike  and  Upson  Camp-meetings,  which  had 


Georgia  Methodism.  183 

been  introduced  into  Georgia  as  early  as  1802,  and  had  become  an 
institution.  In  all  the  counties  there  was  one,  and  in  some  of 
them  there  were  two  or  more  camp-grounds.  In  the  new  pur- 
chase the  camp-ground  was  immediately  selected.  In  1825  the 
first  camp-meeting  was  held  in  Monroe  County,  near  old  Mt. 
Zion,  and  in  Upson  near  Thomas  Maybrey's.  Originally,  just 
where  the  preacher  and  his  leading  members  thought  there  ought 
to  be  a  camp-meeting,  the  spot  was  selected.  The  work  was  all 
temporary,  but  afterwards  there  was  a  shingle-roofed  tabernacle, 
good  seats,  plank  tents,  and  royal  hospitality;  but  in  the  new 
country  the  old  plan  was  the  first  adopted— a  bush  arbor,  logs 
for  seats,  and  a  plain  stand.  The  presiding  elder  was  in  charge, 
and  brought  preachers  from  the  country  round  about  to  aid  him! 
A  wonderful  work  generally  was  done. 

People  came  by  thousands,  for  this  new  country  was  for  no 
length  of  time,  after  it  was  opened  to  settlement,  thinly  settled. 
Its  contiguity  to  the  older  counties,  its  security  against  the  hos- 
tility of  savages,  its  fine  soil  and  genial  climate,  and  the  gratuitous 
distribution  of  the  land,  brought  scores  of  thousands  into  it.  In 
four  years  after  Monroe  County  was  settled,  1,700  votes  were 
cast  at  Forsyth,  the  only  precinct  in  the  county.  There  were  at 
the  Monroe  Camp-ground  over  100  tents,  and  hundreds  came  in 
wagons  and  bivouacked.  Ten  thousand  persons  were  supposed 
to  have  been  present  at  one  camp-meeting  there,  and  it  was  no 
uncommon  thing  for  over  100  to  be  converted  during  the  four 
days.  The  great  battle-fields  of  Methodism  in  the  new  purchase 
were  the  camp-grounds,  and  many  were  the  victories  won  on 
them. 

The  work  in  Florida  continued  to  prosper,  and  Tallahassee 
was  made  a  station,  and  Josiah  Freeman  was  sent  to  it,  the  first 
stationed  preacher  in  Florida.  Adam  Wyrick  and  D.  McDonald 
came  to  the  Leon  Circuit,  which  then  included  Leon,  Jefferson, 
Gadsden,  and  Madison.  In  the  southwest  of  Florida  on  Pease 
River,  there  was  still  prosperity,  and  314  white  and  colored  mem- 
bers were  reported. 

The  hardships  endured  in  this  part  of  the  work  was  very 
great.  The  preachers  were  often  removed  from  circuits  in  the 
up-country  of  Georgia,  and  sent  to  this  remote  section.  There 
were  neither  railroads  nor  public  conveyances  of  any  kind,  and 
the  whole  journey  had  to  be  made  on  horseback.  Isaac  Boring, 
now  a  deacon,  was  ordered  from  the  Keewee  Circuit  in  South' 
Carolina,  to  Pensacola  in  Florida,  while  Adam  Wyrick  went 
from  the  Monroe  Circuit,  Ga.,  to  Leon  County  in  Florida,  which 


184  History  of 

reached  to  the  shores  of  the  Gulf.  The  work  of  revival  still  went 
on,  and  20,204  white  members  were  reported  as  the  total  to  the 
conference. 

The  next  conference  was  held  in  Charleston,  January  28,  1829, 
Bishop  McKendree  presiding.  Thomas  Samford  still  continued 
in  his  place  as  presiding  elder  of  the  Athens  District,  Wm.  Ar- 
nold still  on  the  Milledgeville.  Josiah  Evans  came  back  from 
Florida  and  was  placed  on  the  Savannah,  and  Henry  Bass  came 
to  Georgia,  and  was  put  upon  the  Augusta. 

A  new  district  was  made  in  the  western  part  of  the  State,  and 
Andrew  Hammill  was  placed  upon  it.  This,  the  Columbus  Dis- 
trict, included  all  that  section  between  the  Flint  and  Chatta- 
hoochee north  of  Columbus.  Hammill,  while  on  the  district,  had 
charge  of  Columbus  Church. 

James  O.  Andrew  now  returned  to  Georgia,  and  was  stationed 
at  Athens  and  Greensboro.  John  Howard  with  Benj.  Pope  were 
on  the  Apalachee,  and  Macon,  now  made  a  station,  had  Dr.  Few 
as  its  pastor.  Dr.  Pierce  was  sent  to  Eatonton  and  Clinton. 
Clinton,  the  county-site  of  Jones,  was  an  appointment  in  the 
old  Cedar  Creek  Circuit.  It  was  a  place  of  considerable  im- 
portance, being  in  the  midst  of  a  fine  cotton-producing  country. 
In  it  there  was  much  wealth  and  style,  and  alas !  infidelity  and 
dissipation.  The  first  Sunday  after  Dr.  Pierce  came,  he  was 
preaching  an  earnest  and  impressive  sermon,  when  a  fashionably 
dressed  lady,  the  wife  of  one  of  the  most  distinguished  and 
wealthy  lawyers  of  the  community,  became  overcome  by  her 
feelings  and  swooned  away.  She  recovered  consciousness,  and 
was  soon  a  converted  woman.  She  long  lived  an  exemplary 
Christian  life.  Years  before,  when  she  resided  in  another  part 
of  the  State,  she  had  heard  Dr.  Pierce,  a  young  presiding  elder, 
preach,  and  had  been  overcome  and  stricken  down  then.  She 
had  seen  him  no  more  until  this  time,  and  the  flood  of  old  memo- 
ries brought  back  old  convictions,  with  a  happier  result. 

Madison  was  connected  this  year  with  Monticello.  Monticello 
was  the  county-site  of  Jasper,  and  had  been  settled  since  1807. 
It  was,  while  not  a  large,  yet  a  flourishing  county  town,  but  did 
not  long  retain  its  position  as  a  half-station. 

With  this  year  commences  the  work  which  was  to  be  pushed 
forward  with  so  much  energy  and  success,  the  mission  work 
among  the  colored  people,  and  James  Dannelly,  the  first  mis- 
sionary, had  charge  of  the  Broad  River  Mission.  From  the 
beginning  the  colored  people  had  been  the  special  care  of  the 
Methodist  preachers.     In  every  church   there  was   a  place   for 


Georgia  Methodism.  185 

them.  They  were  received  into  the  societies  and  invited  to  the 
Communion  table.  Men  of  their  own  color  were  licensed  to 
preach  to  them,  and  there  was  at  this  time  over  6,ooo  membe  s 
n  the  conference;  but  they  could  not  all  be  reached  by  a  min 
stry  which  preached  largely  in  the  week,  and  it  was  evident  that 
if  they  were  reached  at  all  it  must  be  by  special  work. 

neohew  of  WinaPerrentered  ^  W°rk  this  year"     He  was  the 
nephew  of  William  Capers,  and  was  a  young  man  of  decided 

of  the  Monticello  Station,  in  the  year  1867* 

James  Hunter,  who  was  appointed  to  the  Alcovi  Circuit    was 
one  of  two  brothers  who  did  good  work  for  the  Church     He  had 
travelled  nine  years  in  the  South  Carolina  Conferee  then  mar 
ned  and  located  in  Jasper  County,  and  after  fifteen  iear?   orT 
tion  he  re-entered  the  work  and  in  it  he  rvJl     u         Y 
and  was  in  the  new  country^  Georg ^SffiS 

bsSSTS? reIation commenced  He -"w 

a^T ^    IO'    ^  ^   been'ne^rLtf  X   a 
John  Hunter  was  his  brother,  and  his  faithful  colaborer      A  ftp, 

me^dS^r si(,ed  men' but  zeate  —  «*  «~d 

increase  as  in  the  vear. n!      r        t        ,     There  was  not  s"ch 
-^•one  body,  and  a  n-S^&^^St^arS; 


*Minutes.     tlbid. 


186  History  of 

Savannah  River,  which  was  adopted  as  the  line,  and  thencefor- 
ward there  were  the  South  Carolina  and  the  Georgia  Conferences. 
The  Georgia  took  Georgia  and  Florida ;  the  South  Carolina,  South 
Carolina  and  North  Carolina.  This  presents  a  proper  time  and 
place  for  a  review  of  the  Georgia  work  since  the  union  in  1794. 

Forty-five  years  before  this  conference,  a  local  preacher  had 
entered  the  wilderness  to  preach,  for  the  first  time,  the  doctrines 
known  as  Methodist,  and  to  do  a  little.  Forty- four  years  before 
this,  two  most  devoted  men  had  volunteered  as  missionaries,  and 
had  come  to  Georgia  to  do  much.  At  that  time  Georgia  was 
comparatively  a  wilderness.  The  nominal  boundary  of  the  white 
settlements  was  the  Oconee  River.  All  beyond  this  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi, known  then  as  Georgia,  was  an  unbroken  forest,  save 
the  few  fields  tilled  by  untamed  savages.  Four  years  after  the 
missionaries  came,  the  date  of  the  first  reported  census,  there 
were  82,548  inhabitants,  and  when  Humphries  and  Major  began 
their  work  there  were,  as  we  have  said,  not  500  professed  Chris- 
tians in  the  State.  In  a  previous  chapter  we  have  given,  as  well 
as  we  were  able,  a  full  account  of  the  then  condition  of  things. 
Against  obstacles  almost  insurmountable,  hardships,  persecutions, 
slanders,  the  preachers  had  gone  on.  For  five  years  they  had  met 
with  wonderful  success,  then  came  a  period  of  decline,  and  for 
five  years  the  decline  had  been  constant  and  rapid.  Then,  under 
Stith  Mead  and  his  successors,  there  had  been  a  glorious  harvest 
time ;  and  then  for  nearly  thirteen  dreary  years  decline  again,  and 
now  for  seven  years  such  wonderful  prosperity  as  the  sanguine 
had  not  hoped  to  see.  Now  a  laborer  like  Major  fell  at  his  post; 
now  one  like  Ivy,  Ellis,  and  Connor,  worn  down  with  heavy  toils, 
left  the  field  only  to  die ;  now,  as  with  Blanton,  Randle,  Hull,  and 
Andrew,  necessity  drove  to  location,  but  at  last  there  was  a  strong 
conference,  composed  almost  entirely  of  the  sons  of  the  Church. 
Then  the  Methodists  were  humble,  obscure,  and  poor;  now  the 
judge  on  his  bench,  the  Congressman,  and  the  Assemblyman 
were  not  ashamed  to  be  known  as  Methodists.  Then  of  the  few 
preachers  a  small  number  only  were  men  of  even  moderate  educa- 
tion ;  now  the  Georgia  Conference  presented  such  an  array  as 
Pierce,  Andrew,  Howard,  Olin,  Samford,  Few,  and  Pope,  and 
others,  who  could  have  filled  any  pulpit  in  America.  The  State, 
too,  had  extended  her  boundaries,  until  the  Chattahoochee  was 
on  her  western  side,  and  her  population  had  increased  to  a  half 
million.  Then  a  few  log  houses  constituted  the  largest  city  away 
from  the  coast ;  now  there  were  a  score  of  elegant  towns  with 
fine  schools,  good  churches,  and  beautiful  homes,  in  the  interior. 


EISHOP  JOSEPH   S.    KEY. 


Georgia  Methodism.  189 

Then  infidelity  ruled  in  polite  circles;  now  there  was  but  little 
known  or  heard  of  it.  The  new  lands  of  the  western  counties 
were  not  being  slowly  peopled  by  hardy  pioneers,  but  were  rapidly 
settled  by  families  of  cultivation  and  refinement.  Portions  of  the 
State  there  were  still  which  presented  the  aspect  of  the  whole 
country  forty  years  before.  The  district  of  Josiah  Evans  was  as 
large  as  that  of  Richard  Ivy,  and  the  preachers  of  the  Tallahassee 
District  had  to  face  greater  dangers  and  endure  as  great  priva- 
tions as  their  fathers  in  the  first  years.  Only  one  part  of  Georgia 
was  unoccupied  by  the  whites,  but  the  Methodist  preachers  were 
then  among  the  Indians.  Nothing  had  daunted  these  heralds  of 
good  tidings ;  the  mountains,  the  swamps,  the  wiregrass,  the  ever- 
glades, had  all  alike  been  visited  by  them.  The  wigwam  of  the 
Cherokee,  the  Creek,  and  the  Seminole  had  heard  the  song  of 
the  daring  itinerants. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  labors  of  the  Baptist  Church,  and  a 
history  of  Methodism  as  a  great  Christian  agency  ought  to  recog- 
nize gladly  the  labors  of  these  good  men  in  the  same  work.  Their 
first  association  was  formed  in  1784,  and  side  by  side  with  the 
Methodists,  not  always,  it  is  true,  on  the  best  of  terms  with  them, 
had  they  worked  on.  The  Virginians  who  came  to  Georgia  were, 
many  of  them,  Baptists,  and  when  Silas  Mercer,  Daniel  Mar- 
shall, and  their  sons  labored,  great  success  followed  them. 

It  could  not  be  expected  that  Christians  agreeing  so  well  to- 
gether should  be  long  at  war,  or  disagreeing  in  so  many  things 
should  never  some  into  collision,  but  generally  there  was  social 
brotherhood  if  there  was  public  battle. 

The  Presbyterians  came  with  the  first  into  the  State,  and  had 
churches  in  some  important  points,  but  alas !  for  the  progress  of 
this  excellent  body,  an  iron  rule  required  that  every  minister 
should  have  a  classical  and  theological  education,  and  the  times 
offered  neither  opportunity  to  secure  the  training,  nor  support  for 
the  learned  man.  So  the  schoolroom  appropriated  what  the  har- 
vest field  demanded. 

As  to  the  Proestant  Episcopal  Church,  the  first  Church  in  the 
colony,  save  in  the  two  cities  of  Savannah,  Augusta,  and  perhaps 
Macon,  there  was  neither  church  buildings  nor  communicants. 
The  Catholics  were  not  allowed  religious  liberty  in  Georgia  till 
after  the  revolution,  and  there  were  now  only  a  very  few  Cath- 
olic churches  in  the  State. 

The  Methodist  Protestant  Church  had  been  organized,  and 
some  of  the  ablest  of  the  local  preachers  had  gone  into  the  move- 
ment, and  many  good  laymen,  but  the  disaffection  had  been  by  no 
means  considerable. 


190  History  of 

Although  the  financial  interest  was  the  least  prosperous  one, 
yet  the  preachers  were  receiving  a  better  support,  and  were  not 
absolutely  compelled  to  leave  the  work  as  soon  as  they  had  fami- 
lies around  them,  but  the  obligations  to  support  the  ministry,  and 
to  serve  God  with  money,  were  not  as  yet  recognized. 

The  church  buildings  were  all  of  them  inferior.  In  the  country 
they  were  generally  of  logs,  perhaps  a  few  were  framed ;  in  the 
towns,  barn-like  and  uncomfortable.  There  was  not  a  brick  church 
in  Georgia.  There  were  only  a  few  parsonages— one  in  Savan- 
nah, Augusta,  and  Milledgeville,  and  perhaps  one  in  Macon.  The 
circuits  were  still  very  large,  and  great  toil  was  demanded  to  fill 
the  appointments. 

This,  then,  is  a  view  of  the  Church  and  State  as  we  are  able 
to  give  it.  There  was  in  Georgia  and  Florida,  at  the  last  confer- 
ence held  in  Columbia  in  which  they  were  represented,  20,585 
white  members. 

At  this  conference  Bishop  Soule  presided.  The  appointments 
were  made  both  for  the  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  Conferences, 
and  they  were  thenceforward  separate  bodies.  For  over  forty 
years  their  interests  had  been  identical,  but  with  the  growth  of  the 
conference,  and  the  increase  in  the  number  of  preachers,  they  had 
become  practically  separate.  The  preachers  in  the  Georgia  terri- 
tory rarely  crossed  the  line,  and  vice  versa.  The  general  confer- 
ence of  1828  had  given  permission  to  the  South  Carolina  Confer- 
ence to  divide  at  such  time  and  in  such  way  as  it  saw  fit,  and  at 
this  conference  the  work  was  done.  Never  two  conferences  were 
made  from  one  with  less  difficulty,  and  with  less  of  feeling,  save 
the  feeling  of  regret,  which  all  yoke  fellows  feel  at  separating, 
to  meet  no  more  as  a  community. 

The  Georgia  work  had  in  it  five  districts  and  the  South  Caro- 
lina five.  There  were  40,335  white  members ;  20,585  in  Georgia, 
the  rest  in  South  Carolina.  Save  a  portion  of  the  Cherokee  coun- 
try, the  Georgia  Conference  covered  with  its  five  districts  all  of 
Georgia,  and  all  the  settled  parts  of  Florida.  The  territory  was 
large,  much  of  it  new,  and  all  of  it  promising.  Seventy-five 
preachers  received  appointments.  There  were  four  stations,  Au- 
gusta, Savannah,  Macon,  and  Columbus;  six  half  stations;  five 
missions ;  the  rest  of  the  work  was  laid  out  in  large  circuits. 

The  districts  remained  unchanged  from  last  year,  save  that 
Andrew  Hammill  was  released  from  the  charge  of  Columbus,  and 
that  his  district  was  much  enlarged  by  new  territory,  extending 
from  Carrollton  on  the  north  to  Randolph  on  the  south,  and  from 
the  Flint  to  the  Chattahoochee. 


Georgia  Methodism.  191 

The  whole  work  was  well  supplied  with  efficient  preachers. 
We  may  well  doubt  whether  at  any  time  the  average  of  pulpit 
excellence  was  greater  than  in  the  conference  at  this  period.  Of 
all  the  preachers  who  received  appointments  at  that  conference, 
only  four  were  on  the  roll  in  1877:  Lovick  Pierce,  James  Dun- 
woody,  John  W.  Talley,  Jesse  Boring.  Of  these,  one  only  was 
effective — Lovick  Pierce.  There  were  superannuated  James 
Dunwoody,  and  John  W.  Talley,  Jesse  Boring.  Of  all  the  rest, 
not  one  remained  in  the  conference,  and  but  few  were  living. 
Most  of  them,  full  of  years  and  honors,  had  gone  to  the  rest  of 
the  laborers  beyond. 

John  W.  Talley,  at  this  conference,  was  sent  from  Columbia 
to  the  Pensacola  Mission,  the  most  remote  of  the  western  ap- 
pointments. A  ride  from  Columbia  across  the  entire  State  of 
Georgia  and  Florida  to  the  gulf  was  before  him,  and  all  the  com- 
fort he  received  was  to  be  told  that  it  was  well  to  bear  the  yoke 
in  his  youth.  Jesse  Boring  on  the  Chattahoochee  Mission,  Talley 
on  the  Pensacola,  Isaac  Boring  at  Tallahassee,  shows  the  training 
to  which  the  young  preachers  were  subjected.  It  was  Spartan 
enough,  but  it  made  them  heroes  in  a  day  when  heroism  was 
demanded  for  the  work. 

There  was  a  large  part  of  the  country  now  quite  populous  and 
wealthy  which  lay  on  the  Flint,  east  of  Columbus,  in  which  is  now 
Talbot,  Taylor,  and  Macon  Counties.  Two  missionaries  were 
sent  to  this  section,  which  was  called  the  Flint  River  Mission. 
One  of  these  was  the  Hon.  H.  W.  Hilliard,  who  began  his  career 
as  a  Methodist  preacher  and  who  was  afterward  a  member  of 
Congress  and  a  minister  to  European  courts.  Some  success  at- 
tended the  labors  of  the  preachers,  and  339  were  formed  into 
classes.  It  is  probable  that  the  first  Methodist  preaching  in  Tal- 
botton  was  done  this  year  by  the  missionary  on  the  Flint  River 
Mission. 

The  Florida  work  continued  very  prosperous.  Tallahassee 
and  Magnolia  were  made  a  station  with  103  members.  Although 
as  yet  there  were  no  Indian  disturbances,  the  privations  of  the 
preachers  were  very  great.  John  F.  Weathersby,  who  travelled 
the  eastern  part  of  the  State  in  1829,  says  the  fare  in  most  of  the 
homes  at  which  he  stopped  was  hominy  and  Youhon  tea — neither 
bread  nor  meat.  A  pole  cabin,  with  dirt  floor,  was  his  resting- 
place,  and  a  ride  of  twenty-five  miles  through  an  untracked  wild, 
needful  to  reach  a  congregation  of  half  a  dozen  hearers,  his  daily 
work. 

John  W.  Talley,  we  have  seen,  was  sent  to  the  Pensacola  Mis- 


J92  History  of 

sion  this  year.  Pensacola  had  been  the  most  important  town  in 
Florida  during  the  time  the  Spaniards  held  possession  of  the  coun- 
try. There  were  very  large  trading  houses,  Scotch  and  English, 
which  did  large  business  with  the  Indians  of  the  Creek  Nation  in 
Alabama.  Charles  Hardy  had  been  sent  to  Pensacola  as  early  as 
1827.  He  had  made  arrangements  to  build  a  church,  but  the  yel- 
low fever,  of  which  he  had  an  attack,  had  driven  him  away.  The 
next  year  Isaac  Boring  was  sent  from  the  Keewee  Circuit  in 
South  Carolina  to  this  station.  In  1831  John  W.  Talley,  from 
Columbia,  was  sent  to  it.  The  young  city  had  given  great  promise 
of  growth,  and  had  drawn  a  large  population  soon  after  Florida 
was  purchased,  but  it  was  not  long  before  the  growth  of  Mobile, 
and  the  frequent  visits  of  the  yellow  fever,  caused  as  rapid  a  de- 
cline as  there  had  been  quick  growth.  We  are  permitted  to  get 
an  insight  into  the  difficulties  the  missionaries  met  with  in  reach- 
ing this  remote  point,  since  we  have  the  personal  recollections  of 
the  Rev.  John  W.  Talley. 

He  had  been  for  two  years  in  the  mountain  country  of  North 
Carolina,  and  at  the  division  of  the  conference  and  the  formation 
of  the  Georgia  he  was  appointed  to  Pensacola.  The  Bishop  sent 
for  all  the  young  missionaries,  and  encouraged  them  as  best  he 
could,  and  young  Talley  made  ready  for  his  long  journey,  as 
Hardy  and  Boring  had  done  before  him. 

He  left  Columbia  on  horseback,  spent  a  few  days  in  Green 
County,  and  rode  through  the  State  to  Columbus.  Here  he  pur- 
chased a  sulky,  but  his  horse  taking  fright  at  a  thunder-storm, 
ran  away,  broke  his  sulky  to  pieces,  and  he  narrowly  escaped 
death,  though  he  was  only  badly  bruised.  He  then  refitted,  and 
turned  his  face  to  the  South.  He  was  now  in  the  Indian  nation. 
He  reached  the  next  day  a  white  settlement  in  Henry  County, 
Alabama.  Making  his  way  through  the  flat  pine-woods  of  East- 
ern and  Southern  Alabama,  he  pressed  on.  Houses  were  few, 
and  accommodations  were  poor  indeed.  At  a  little  log-cabin,  the 
home  of  a  hunter,  he  was  sheltered  for  the  night,  and  fed  upon 
musty  corn-bread,  the  meal  beaten  in  a  mortar,  and  the  tough 
lungs  of  a  deer  fried  in  rancid  bacon  grease,  and  corn-coffee 
sweetened  with  syrup.  On  such  fare,  hungry  as  he  was,  the  mis- 
sionary could  not  break  his  long  fast,  and  it  was  fifteen  miles  to 
the  next  house.  He,  however,  found,  as  he  says,  an  oasis  in  the 
desert,  in  a  widow's  neat  cottage  and  well-supplied  table.  Thence 
he  pushed  through  the  rain  to  the  house  of  the  first  Methodist  he 
had  seen  since  he  left  Columbus.  After  reaching  the  Florida  sea- 
coast,  and  crossing  the  Escambia  Bay,  he  found  himself  still  ten 


Georgia  Methodism.  193 

miles  from  Pensacola,  and  with  no  choice  but  to  walk.  He  began 
bravely  enough,  but  soon  his  limbs  gave  out.  He,  however, 
reached  the  city  the  next  day.  The  colored  barber  was  a  Meth- 
odist, and  he  found  him  first,  and  then  sought  out  his  host.  His 
host  was  an  Englishman,  who  had  had  a  most  adventurous  and 
varied  experience  in  life.  When  he  came  in,  and  the  family 
greeted  him,  they  asked  him  whether  he  had  breakfast.  When 
he  told  them  no,  the  reluctantly-told  story  came  from  the  good 
wife  that  there  was  nothing  to  eat  in  the  house,  and  no  money  to 
buy  anything  with.  The  young  preacher  handed  the  good  man  a 
five-dollar  note,  and  soon  their  wants  were  met.  In  this  little 
church  there  were  some  families  of  position  and  of  refinement. 
In  the  Sunday-school,  then  a  bright  young  girl,  was  Miss  Octavia 
Walton,  afterwards  Mrs.  Le  Vert,  whose  mother  was  a  member 
of  the  church  there. 

We  have  been  thus  minute  in  giving  this  reminiscence  because 
we  are  anxious  to  bring  out  the  difficulties  under  which  the  early 
preachers  labored,  that  from  this  history  we  may  imbibe  some- 
thing of  that  heroic  spirit  which  enabled  them  in  God's  strength 
to  gain  such  conquests.  There  was  surely  nothing  of  that  puer- 
ility, that  effeminacy,  so  distasteful  to  the  apostle  of  work,  in 
such  a  life  as  these  first  preachers  led.  Is  such  a  spirit  needless 
now? 

The  Methodist  missionary  was  the  only  preacher  in  these  wilds. 
We  have  not  thought  the  pages  of  a  history  should  be  encum- 
bered with  many  reflections.  We  have  designed  to  tell  the  story, 
and  let  it  teach  its  own  lessons ;  but  we  may  be  pardoned  if  we 
express  a  feeling  of  grateful  satisfaction  as  we  think  of  a  confer- 
ence finding  men  willing  to  do  the  work  demanded  for  these  most 
remote  and  destitute  people,  these  very  poor,  and  preaching  the 
Gospel  unto  them.  The  splendid  success  of  the  efforts  of  the 
Methodist  preachers  has  been  less  a  success  won  than  a  reward 
given.  They  sowed ;  we  have  reaped ;  but  in  the  world  beyond, 
the  sower  who  received  no  earthly  reward  may  well  rejoice  with 
the  reaper  who  hath  gathered  fruit  unto  life  eternal,  that  "both 
he  that  soweth  and  he  that  reapeth  may  rejoice  together." 

We  have  now  reached  the  time  when  the  first  Georgia  Confer- 
ence begins  its  session,  and  will  consider  its  history  in  a  second 
book. 


METHODISM  IN  GEORGIA 


Book    Second 


The  Sons  of  the  Pioneers 


CONSTRUCTION  AND  DEVELOPMENT 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 

It  has  been  my  effort  in  the  preceding  pages  to  give  an  annal- 
istic  account  of  Methodism  in  Georgia  and  Florida,  and  to  write 
with  some  minuteness  the  story  of  events ;  but  now  I  find  myself 
compelled  to  confine  this  history  to  narrower  limits,  or  to  make 
it  much  larger  than  I  think  wise.  So  in  the  part  of  the  book  I 
now  propose  to  write,  my  purpose  is  to  condense  as  far  as  is  con- 
sistent with  a  clear  account  of  men  and  measures,  and  change  my 
method  of  treatment.  I  regret  to  excise  from  the  pages  of  my 
book  much  that  was  of  value,  but  it  is  rendered  necessary  by  my 
aim  to  bring  the  book  into  proper  limits. 


METHODISM       IN       GEORGIA 

The  Georgia  Conference 

1 830- 1 832. 


CHAPTER  I. 


The  General  Conference  as  is  seen  in  the  preceding  chapter, 
gave  to  the  South  Carolina  Conference  the  privileges  of  dividing, 
at  such  time  and  in  such  way  as  it  might  see  proper.  The  division 
took  place  in  Columbia,  South  Carolina,  January  30,  1830.  In 
January,  1831,  the  first  Georgia  Conference  met  in  Macon. 
There  was  no  derangement  resulting  from  the  division,  and  the 
Georgia  Conference  moved  forward  without  confusion.  The 
Bishop  who  was  to  preside  was  not  present,  and  the  venerable 
Lewis  Myers  was  elected  president.  Eleven  young  men  were 
admitted  on  trial.  George  Wells  Foster  Pierce  was  one  of  this 
class.  He  will  be  at  once  recognized  as  the  celebrated  and  greatly 
beloved  Bishop  George  Foster  Pierce  of  after  time.  He  was  just 
from  college,  where  he  had  won  the  highest  honors.  He  was 
handsome,  gifted,  and  attractive.  He  had  entered  the  office  of 
Colonel  Thomas  Foster,  his  uncle,  to  study  law,  but  he  found 
nothing  in  the  life  of  a  lawyer  congenial  to  his  tastes.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  church,  and  a  very  unobjectionable  one,  except  that 
he  did  not  wear  the  Methodist  uniform,  but  was  sometimes  clad  in 
fashionable  apparel ;  and  as  seen  elsewhere,  the  fact  brought  him 
into  collision  with  the  stern  John  Collinsworth,  who  objected  to 
his  being  admitted  on  trial,  as  he  had  objected  to  his  being  licensed 
to  preach.  The  conference,  however,  was  glad  to  welcome  the 
young  man  to  its  ranks,  and  he  began  on  the  Monticello  Circuit  a 
life  which  was  never  anything  but  a  blessing  to  the  church.  To 
give  a  few  paragraphs  to  the  life  of  one  who  was  prominent  and 
so  well  known  as  Bishop  Pierce  would  seem  a  useless  work.  It 
would  take  a  volume  to  tell  the  story  of  his  wonderful  life.  He 
was  born  in  Georgia ;  educated  in  Georgia ;  lived  in  Georgia ;  and 
died  in  the  adjoining  county  to  that  in  which  he  was  born.  His 
majestic  person,  his  lofty  intellect,  his  unflinching  courage,  made 
him  from  the  first  a  leader  among  men.  The  Georgia  Conference 
was  the  only  one  with  which  he  was  ever  connected,  except  for 


Georgia  Methodism.  197 

one  year,  when  he  was  in  Charleston.  He  was  a  junior  preacher 
on  a  circuit;  a  stationed  preacher;  a  presiding  elder;  a  college 
president ;  a  college  agent ;  and  a  Bishop.  He  never  spared  him- 
self. He  was  intensely  religious,  but  his  religious  life  took  the 
direction  of  constant  work  for  the  good  of  men.  No  man  was 
ever  more  universally  admired,  or  so  tenderly  loved,  or  so  im- 
plicitly trusted.  He  was  a  peerless  orator  who  swayed  the  multi- 
tude at  his  will.  He  was  a  man  of  wondrous  wisdom,  who  was 
never  moved  from  his  convictions  by  clamor  or  prejudice.  Some 
thought  him  too  radical ;  many  that  he  was  too  conservative— but 
results  have  shown  that  he  was  neither.  He  opposed  innovations, 
but  accepted  needful  changes,  and  was  never  so  tenacious  of  his 
opinions  as  to  be  offensively  obstinate.  His  life  was  a  benediction 
to  his  native  State,  and  the  Conference  which  received  him  had 
little  idea  of  the  great  blessing  it  was  conferring. 

Another  young  college  man,  who  was  to  do  a  wonderful  work, 
entered  the  Conference  at  this  time.  This  was  Archelaus  Ii! 
Mitchell,  who  died  at  the  age  of  ninety-five,  being  at  the  time 
perhaps  the  oldest  travelling  preacher  in  the  world.  He  was  the 
son  of  a  sturdy  Scotch-Irishman,  who  lived  near  Athens.  Neither 
his  father  or  mother  were  professed  Christians,  but  were  inclined 
toward  the  Presbyterian  Church.  In  the  revival  of  1827,  in 
which  his  college  mate,  George  Pierce,  was  converted,  he  too  came 
into  the  fold,  and  joined  the  Methodist  Church  in  Athens.  Young 
Mitchell  was  a  man  of  excellent  family,  of  fine  character,  and  of 
unusually  good  education.  He  was  sent  as  a  junior  preacher  to 
a  very  large  circuit,  where  great  success  attended  his  work.  From 
that  day  his  course  was  steadily  onward.  As  a  preacher  on  a  cir- 
cuit or  a  station,  as  college  agent,  college  professor,  college  presi- 
dent, or  as  a  Presiding  Elder,  he  was  always  the  same  valuable 
and  trustworthy  man.  He  removed  to  Alabama  after  a  few  years 
in  Georgia,  and  was  long  the  patriarch  of  the  Alabama  Confer- 
ence. He  died  in  Alabama  in  1904,  having  been  connected  with  a 
Methodist  Conference  over  seventy-two  years. 

Of  the  eleven,  John  C.  Simmons,  a  sturdy  young  man  of  great 
energy  and  of  strong  character,  and  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary 
mental  endowments,  entered  the  Conference  and  continued  in  the 
work  for  thirty-six  years.  He  was  a  strong  preacher  and  a  valua- 
ble Presiding  Elder,  and  did  excellent  work  for  the  Church  He 
travelled  all  kinds  of  circuits  and  districts,  and  bore  all  the  hard- 
ships of  his  work  manfully.  Of  the  eleven,  only  three,  Pierce 
Mitchell  and  Simmons,  did  many  years  of  effective  service 

The  Conference  of  1832  met  in  Augusta,  Bishop  Hedding  pre- 


198  History  of 

siding.  It  was  the  only  visit  this  sterling  New  Englander  ever 
made  into  Georgia.  Eleven  young  men  came  into  the  connection. 
Of  these  only  four  died  in  the  work:  Leonard  C.  Peek,  Peyton 
P.  Smith,  Samuel  Anthony  and  Caleb  W.  Key.  Leonard  Peek 
was  a  man  of  good  ability,  of  very  genuine  piety,  and  was  very 
useful  in  hard  fields.  He  located  and  settled  in  Thomas  County, 
Georgia,  and  in  his  old  age  was  readmitted  into  the  South  Geor- 
gia Conference,  in  connection  with  which  he  died.  Peyton  P. 
Smith  was  one  of  four  sons  of  a  local  preacher,  John  Major 
Smith,  of  DeKalb  County.  He  was  a  man  of  unusual  parts. 
He  had  had  but  few  early  advantages,  but  he  secured  for  him- 
self a  very  good  English  education,  and  was  a  good  theologian, 
and  an  effective  preacher;  and  when  the  Florida  Conference  was 
set  off  from  Georgia,  he  became  a  member  of  it,  and  was  long  a 
prominent  member  of  that  body. 

Caleb  W.  Key,  who  was  also  admitted,  was  destined  to  a  life  of 
great  usefulness.  Mr.  Asbury  often  speaks  in  his  journal  of  a 
Martin  Key,  a  large  slaveholder  in  Virginia,  whose  wife  was  a 
Methodist.  He  was  doubtless  a  lineal  descendant  of  the  Sir  Mar- 
tin Keys,  who  married  the  sister  of  Lady  Lane  Grey.  Joseph  Key, 
father  of  Caleb,  came  to  Georgia  to  make  his  way  in  a  new  coun- 
try as  a  mechanic,  for  although  Martin  had  many  slaves,  he  had 
many  children,  and  Joseph,  his  grandson,  had  to  make  his  way  as 
a  millwright,  and  his  great  grandson  was  a  brick-mason.  He 
was  a  man  of  brains  and  character,  and  becoming  a  Christian 
resolved  to  give  himself  to  the  work  of  the  ministry.  It  gave  but 
poor  promise  of  a  comfortable  support,  while  his  trade  as  a 
builder  was  a  very  profitable  one ;  but  he  entered  on  the  work, 
and  died  in  the  conference.  He  was  a  remarkably  useful  man. 
Pleasing  in  his  manners,  sound  in  his  judgment,  fervent  in  his 
piety,  and  withal  a  man  of  ability,  he  did  lasting  good.  His  son 
is  Bishop  Joseph  S.  Key. 

Samuel  Anthony,  one  of  these  four  who  died  in  connection 
with  the  Smith  Georgia  Conference,  was  in  all  respects  a  remark- 
able man  with  a  remarkable  history.  He  was  descended  from  the 
distinguished  families  of  the  Anthonys  and  Lamars,  but  his  par- 
ents were  very  poor,  and  having  lived  on  the  frontier  were  illit- 
erate. He  grew  to  manhood  in  the  backwoods ;  married  while  a 
youth  and  had  very  few  advantages.  He  was  employed  as  an 
overseer  near  Columbus,  when  he  was  converted.  He  soon  felt 
a  call  to  preach,  and  with  but  little  education  began  his  life  work. 
He  was  wonderfully  successful  from  the  first,  and  being  very 
diligent,  rapidly  improved  in  culture.     He  was  a  man  of  extraor- 


Georgia  Methodism.  199 

dinary  endowments  and  extraordinary  energy,  and  of  wonderful 
common  sense.  He  never  seemed  young.  Uncle  Sam  Anthony, 
as  he  was  called  all  over  Georgia,  was  recognized  by  all  men  as  the 
embodiment  of  Christian  integrity.  It  might  truly  be  said  of  him 
that  his  eye  was  single  and  his  body  full  of  light.  He  was  a  man 
who  could  say  in  the  strongest  English  what  he  felt  ought  to  be 
said,  and  say  it  with  an  almost  supernatural  unction.  He  had  the 
unbounded  regard  and  respect  of  the  people,  and  was  greatly  re- 
vered. He  was  sternly  opposed  to  innovation  on  the  old  Method- 
ism he  had  received.  He  clung  to  old  things  with  the  tenacity  of 
an  English  Tory.  He  was  the  last  of  the  preachers  to  give  up  the 
straight-breasted  coat  and  white  cravat,  and  was  strict  in  his  ob- 
servance of  all  things,  great  and  small,  taught  in  the  discipline. 
He  made  no  compromises  and  no  concessions,  but  stood  firmly 
by  what  he  thought  was  the  right.  His  piety  was  almost  mystical 
in  its  fervor,  and  his  long  life  was  without  a  stain.  Fearless  as  a 
lion,  he  was  withal  so  tender  that  those  whom  he  rebuked  most 
plainly  regarded  him  not  only  with  respect,  but  with  affection. 
He  did  much  hard  work,  and  did  it  faithfully. 

Myles  Green,  who  was  readmitted  into  the  travelling  connec- 
tion the  year  before,  had  been  an  itinerant  as  early  as  1800,  in 
Virginia,  but  soon  retired  from  the  work.  He  removed  to  Geor- 
gia and  settled  in  Hancock,  where  he  was  Clerk  of  the  Court. 
After  Baldwin  County  was  settled,  in  1803,  he  removed  to  Mil- 
ledgeville.  He  was  a  local  preacher,  and  a  great  helper  in  the 
church  as  a  local  preacher  for  over  thirty  years.  He  wished  to 
die  in  the  Conference,  and  re-entered  it ;  and  having  reached  his 
eighty-fifth  year,  in  great  triumph  he  passed  away.  At  this  ses- 
sion, the  delegates  were  elected  to  the  General  Conference  which 
was  to  meet  in  May.  There  were  twelve  delegates  from  Georgia : 
James  O.  Andrew,  Samuel  K.  Hodges,  William  Arnold,  Andrew 
Hammill,  John  Howard,  Ignatius  A.  Few,  Benjamin  Pope,  Elijah 
Sinclair,  W.  J.  Parks,  Allen  Turner,  Lovick  Pierce,  and  Thomas 
Samford.  They  left  Georgia  together,  and  rode  to  Philadelphia 
on  horseback.  The  session  was  not  an  important  one,  and  few 
questions  came  before  it  which  were  of  deep  interest.  It  was 
evident  before  the  beginning  of  the  session  that  the  episcopacy 
must  be  strengthened,  and  two  new  Bishops  were  decided  on. 
James  O.  Andrew  and  John  Emory  were  elected  on  the  first  bal- 
lot. Andrew  was  the  first  Georgian  who  had  ever  been  elevated 
to  that  position,  as  his  father  had  been  the  first  Georgian  who 
became  a  travelling  preacher.  He  was  eminently  fitted  for  the 
office,  but  was  most  reluctant  to  accept  it.     He  was  willing  to 


200  History  of 

endure  all  the  privations  which  it  entailed,  but  shrank  from  the 
greatness  of  its  demands. 

It  was  stated  in  the  great  debate  of  1844  that  he  was  elected 
to  the  office  not  only  because  of  his  fitness  for  it,  but  because  he 
held  no  slaves.  That,  but  for  this,  some  other  Southerner  would 
have  been  chosen.  This  is  possibly  true,  but  he  said  he  was  not 
approached  on  the  subject — made  no  pledges  and  would  have 
made  none.  He  was  now  about  forty-two  years  old.  From  the 
time  he  had  gone  forth  a  timid  boy  to  the  Saltketcher  Circuit,  his 
progress  had  been  a  steady  one.  He  had  richly  cultivated  his 
mind,  his  wonderful  native  powers  had  been  greatly  strength- 
ened, and  he  had  now  reached  the  zenith  of  his  fame  as  a  preacher. 
To  the  most  cultured,  to  the  plain  and  unlettered,  to  the  poor 
negro,  he  was  alike  fitted,  and  by  each  of  them  greatly  valued. 
It  has  been  said  by  his  old  and  partial  friends  that  he  never 
preached  as  well  after  he  became  a  Bishop  as  before.  This  was 
no  doubt  true  as  a  general  statement.  Before  he  became  a  Bishop 
he  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  preach ;  but  now  he  had  to  plan,  to 
appoint,  and  to  direct.  No  man  ever  felt  the  weight  of  these  de- 
mands to  a  greater  degree.  He  never  spared  himself,  he  never 
spared  his  brethren  when  he  felt  that  Christ  demanded  the  sacri- 
fice. Like  Abraham,  he  would  have  borne  his  only  son  to  the 
mount,  if  God  had  called  for  him.  Yet  while  he  sent  men  hither 
and  thither  with  such  apparent  calmness,  while  he  made  his  ap- 
pointments and  adhered  to  his  decision  inflexibly,  he  never  made 
an  appointment  which  he  knew  would  afflict,  without  enduring  as 
much  pain  in  giving  it  as  the  one  felt  who  received  it.  The  man 
that  felt  the  Bishop,  who  so  calmly  read  him  out  to  a  hard  field, 
was  pitiless,  little  knew  that  his  nights  had  been  sleepless  and  his 
eyes  tearful  ere  his  decision  had  been  made.  The  writer  of  this 
history,  who  loved  him  as  a  father,  was  one  night  with  him  in 
Augusta ;  and  he  was  cheerfully  telling  of  some  of  his  early  trials, 
but  he  said,  "these  were  nothing  to  the  trials  of  a  Bishop.  It  has 
not  been  travel  and  absence  from  home,  but  when  I  have  had  to 
afflict  good  men  and  good  churches,  it  has  caused  me  a  deeper 
pain  than  I  have  ever  known  from  other  cause.  You  say  I  ought 
to  be  used  to  that ;  ah,  my  boy,  I  will  never  get  used  to  it." 

From  his  election  to  the  episcopacy  to  the  day  of  his  death,  his 
life  was  one  of  most  incessant  anxiety  and  toil. 

He  was  possessed  of  a  most  remarkable  delicacy  of  feeling. 
The  man  who  seemed  to  be  as  hard  as  iron  was  as  soft  and  gentle 
as  a  woman.  The  man  who  in  his  unflinching  courage  would  not 
resign  his  office,  because  he  felt  a  great  principle  was  involved, 


Georgia  Methodism.  201 

suffered  the  agony  of  a  martyr  in  retaining  it.  The  man  who 
made  appointments  which  inflicted  the  greatest  pain  on  his  best 
friends,  and  made  them  apparently  without  reluctance,  and 
sternly  held  to  them,  groaned  and  wept  in  his  chamber  ere  he 
decided  upon  them.  He  was  a  man  of  grandest  unselfishness. 
Poor  Asbury,  sick  and  lonely,  if  he  did  not  murmur  under  his 
trials,  and  he  did  not,  at  least  let  others  know  how  deep  were  his 
wounds;  but  Andrew  sternly  suffered  deeper  pain,  and  no  man 
knew  how  keenly  he  felt  it.  He  was  a  man  of  the  noblest  mag- 
nanimity. He  never  spared  himself.  He  never  did  intentional  in- 
justice to  friend  or  foe.  He  was  never  cowardly  in  the  presence 
of  wealth  and  power;  he  was  never  harsh  toward  the  lowly  or  the 
erring.  For  thirty-four  years  as  a  Bishop  he  worked  on;  from 
the  frozen  lakes  to  the  Gulf,  from  the  Chesapeake  to  the  Rio 
Grande,  he  travelled  and  preached,  and  presided  over  confer- 
ences, and  bore  the  care  of  the  churches,  with  all  the  suffering  it 
brought  with  it.  Then  in  1866,  ere  a  man  had  breathed  the 
thought,  he  became  convinced  that  he  was  no  longer  fitted  to  fill 
his  place  efficiently,  and  so  affectionately,  but  firmly,  he  insisted 
that  he  should  be  retired.  His  brethren  sorrowfully  granted  his 
request,  and  thenceforward  he  labored  as  best  he  could.  His 
limbs  gave  way,  and  he  could  not  stand ;  he  sat  in  his  chair  in  the 
churches,  and  talked  to  the  children.  He  had  gone  to  New  Or- 
leans on  church  work;  he  was  on  his  way  home  when  he  was 
taken  with  his  last  illness.  He  was  in  Mobile  in  the  early  part  of 
1870,  at  the  house  of  his  daughter,  Octavia,  wife  of  the  Rev.  J. 
W.  Rush,  and  in  a  few  days  he  grandly  and  joyfully  passed  to 
the  land  of  the  living.  From  1812  to  1870,  for  fifty-eight  long 
years,  he  had  turned  no  hair's  breadth  aside  from  his  line  of  duty, 
and  there  was  no  spot  upon  his  fair  shield.  Dented  it  was,  and 
battered,  but  no  dart  of  foe  had  ever  found  it  anywhere  save  on 
his  brave  arm,  in  the  forefront  of  the  battle.  All  Methodism 
owes  a  debt  to  James  O.  Andrew,  all  Southern  Methodism  an 
especial  one;  but  to  Georgia  Methodists  he  was  dearer  than  to 
any  others.  His  son,  who  bore  his  name,  his  son-in-law,  the  Rev. 
John  W.  Rush,  his  grandsons,  the  Rev.  W.  C.  and  I.  M.  Lovett, 
and  C.  A.  Rush ;  his  foster-son,  the  Rev.  Alex.  M.  Wynn,  have  all 
followed  him  in  the  work  of  the  ministry,  each  of  them  faithful 
workers ;  while  his  sons-in-law,  Thomas  M.  Meriwether  and  the 
Rev.  Robert  W.  Lovett,  did  work  scarcely  less  effective  as  active 
laymen.  Robert  Emory  was  elected  Bishop  at  the  same  General 
Conference. 

Though  younger  than  Andrew  he  was  not  to  be  long  in  his 


202  History  of 

office,  and  though  his  education  had  been  much  more  advanced, 
he  had  not  nigh  so  great  experience  in  those  trials  of  the  itiner- 
ancy, which  a  man  needs  to  know  to  fit  him  to  be  a  Bishop. 

He  was  a  highly  gifted  man,  and  one  of  very  broad  culture. 
His  tastes  rather  fitted  him  for  the  editorial  chair,  or  the  pro- 
fessor's lecture  room,  than  for  the  work  of  the  episcopacy,  which 
requires  abilities  which  neither  scholarship  or  gifts  of  eloquence 
can  supply.  He  was  a  man  of  very  delicate  health,  and  the  labors 
of  his  office  demanded  much  power  of  endurance.  He  was,  how- 
ever, very  popular,  for  he  had  been  very  useful,  and  although  he 
had  led  the  reformers  of  the  Church  when  they  seceded,  he 
wrote  most  vigorously  against  them.  He  was  killed  by  being 
thrown  from  his  carriage,  as  he  was  on  his  way  to  Baltimore 
from  his  farm,  not  many  miles  distant  from  the  city,  after  he  had 
been  a  Bishop  only  a  few  years.  The  conference  adjourned,  and 
Bishop  Andrew  left  Philadelphia  in  company  with  McKendree, 
his  venerable  predecessor  and  still  colleague  in  office.  He  went 
to  McKendree  and  asked  for  counsel.  "He  was  sitting,"  said 
Bishop  Andrew,  "on  the  deck  of  the  steamer,  leaning  on  his 
staff.  Looking  at  me  calmly,  he  said :  'I  have  but  little  to  say,  my 
dear  James.  I  think  little  need  be  said,  only  this :  Shrink  from 
no  responsibility.  Remember  that  he  who  shrinks  from  a  respon- 
sibility which  properly  belongs  to  him,  incurs  the  most  fearful 
of  responsibilities!'" 

The  election  of  Bishop  Andrew  rendered  it  necessary  that  the 
charge  of  the  Augusta  Station  should  fall  upon  the  shoulders  of 
his  young  assistant,  and  so  by  the  middle  of  his  second  year, 
George  F.  Pierce  had  all  the  burden  of  the  largest  city  station  in 
Georgia  upon  his  shoulders.  There  are  some  men  who  always 
meet,  and  go  beyond  the  demands  upon  them  by  the  occasion,  and 
the  young  preacher  was  one  of  these.  The  Bishop-elect  decided 
to  settle  his  family  at  Augusta,  and  although  the  people  there  gave 
him  unsolicited  assistance  in  securing  a  home,  he  became,  he  says, 
for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  involved  in  debt,  and  his  faithful 
Amelia  came  to  his  aid  by  teaching  a  school.  The  allowance 
made  for  his  support  by  the  Georgia  Conference,  to  whom  the 
question  by  law  was  referred,  was  $600  all  told.* 

The  good  work  of  a  Bishop  was  certainly  not  a  remunerative 
one.  The  Georgia  Conference  had  now  lost  him  as  a  member  of 
tbe  body;  but  for  many  years  he  made  his  home  in  her  territory, 
and  for  all  his  years  he  regarded  Georgia  as  his  mother.     It  was 

*Leaves  from  an  Itinerant 's  Diary,  508. 


Georgia  Methodism.  203 

meet  then  that  he  should  be  brought  back  to  Georgia  for  burial, 
and  that  he  should  sleep  his  last  sleep  in  Oxford,  the  happy  home 
of  his  mature  years. 

We  return  to  the  minutes. 

James  Bellah,  who  has  borne  the  brunt  of  many  a  hard  cam- 
paign, received  at  this  conference  his  last  appointment.  He  was 
sent  to  the  Yellow  River  Circuit.  This  included  a  large  part  of 
Newton,  all  of  Henry,  Butts,  Jasper,  and  one  appointment  in 
Monroe.  There  were  twenty-eight  appointments,  and  the  preacher, 
by  riding  every  day,  could  fill  them  in  one  month.  James  Bellah 
had  now  worn  himself  down  in  the  work,  and  after  a  short  time 
on  the  circuit  his  health  failed,  and  Morgan  Bellah,  his  brother, 
succeeded  him.  This  good  man  thus  began  a  work  which,  in  the 
midst  of  all  difficulties,  he  continued  to  prosecute  for  forty  years. 
He  received  for  his  year's  labor  $160.  How  could  any  man  of 
family  have  lived  on  such  a  salary?  Out  of  it  he  was  compelled 
to  furnish  a  house  for  himself,  a  horse,  pay  his  travelling  ex- 
penses, and  indeed  provide  for  all  his  wants.  Of  course,  this 
would  have  been  simply  impossible ;  and  as  it  was  but  a  fair  sam- 
ple of  the  salaries  of  most  of  the  preachers,  there  can  be  no  won- 
der that  they  had  farms  of  their  own,  and  that  their  good  wives 
supported  the  family  while  they  were  absent  for  near  a  month  at 
a  time  on  their  labor  of  love.  If  one  was  not  able  to  provide  for 
his  family  a  home,  and  had  no  other  resources  than  his  own  labor, 
he  was  forced  to  a  location,  and  so  there  were  a  large  number  of 
gifted  men  in  the  local  ranks  who  would  have  continued  in  the 
pastorate  if  they  could  have  been  even  insufficiently  supported. 

The  rich  lands  of  Western  Georgia  had  been  filled  up  by  Geor- 
gians from  the  eastern  counties.  Methodism  was  strong  in  that 
section,  and  LaGrange,  the  leading  village,  invited  the  confer- 
ence to  hold  its  sessions  there.  It  was  the  extreme  western  edge 
of  the  territory,  but  the  invitation  was  accepted ;  and  on  horseback 
and  in  sulkeys  the  preachers  in  the  bleak  days  of  early  January 
made  their  way  to  the  place  of  meeting.  Bishop  Andrew  was  to 
preside  for  the  first  time  over  the  conference  of  which  he  had 
been  a  member  from  his  boyhood.  There  was  trying  work  before 
the  body,  for  one  of  its  most  highly  honored  members,  Fred 
Norseworthy,  had  been  charged  with  a  flagrant  dereliction,  which 
charge  he  had  vehemently  denied.  He  was  ably  defended  by 
Doctor  Few,  who  believed  firmly  in  his  innocence ;  and  while 
arraigned  for  one  sin,  was  convicted  of  another  and  suspended. 
Against  this  decision  there  was  no  appeal,  but  Doctor  Few  made 


204  History  of 

a  vigorous  protest.  Poor  Norseworthy  afterward  confessed  his 
sin,  and  was  restored  to  the  Church  and  died  in  peace. 

At  this  conference  nine  preachers  were  admitted  on  trial.  Of 
these  one  was  destined  to  become  a  man  of  celebrity  and  great 
usefulness.  This  was  Doctor  James  Ezekiel  Evans,  whose  father 
had  been  a  useful  travelling  preacher  in  the  early  part  of  the 
century  and  had  settled  in  Lincoln  County,  Georgia,  where  he  had 
married  into  a  prominent  family  and  where  he  was  a  very  useful 
local  preacher.  James  Evans,  as  he  is  written  in  the  Minutes, 
was  a  fine-looking  young  fellow,  gifted  in  speech  and  song,  a  most 
graceful  declaimer,  and  a  man  of  very  fervid  piety.  He  soon  won 
a  high  place  as  one  of  the  most  useful  and  attractive  preachers  in 
the  conference.  He  was  remarkably  handsome  and  very  neat  and 
careful  in  his  dress,  and  had  most  charming  manners.  He  was 
a  man  of  such  fervent  piety  and  such  earnestness,  that  all  con- 
fided in  him.  He  was  a  born  leader,  and  from  his  first  admission 
into  the  conference  was  looked  to  as  a  safe  counsellor.  He  was 
a  great  revivalist,  and  wherever  he  went  souls  were  converted 
and  there  were  many  additions  to  the  Church.  He  was  possessed 
of  a  considerable  estate  through  his  wife,  so  that  he  was  able  to 
dispense  a  liberal  hospitality  and  to  lead  in  contributions  to  good 
causes.  He  had  broad  and  advanced  views,  and  the  colleges  and 
schools  found  in  him  a  generous  friend.  He  was  a  very  fervent 
Christian,  and  professed  in  the  later  days  of  his  life  the  Perfect 
Love  he  had  long  preached.  He  was  greatly  beloved,  and  no  man 
in  his  conference  was  more  useful.  He  loved  the  pastorate,  and 
when  elected  Book  Agent,  he  soon  resigned  and  returned  to  his 
chosen  field.  He  was  the  first  agent  of  the  Negro  College,  and 
laid  the  foundation  upon  which  W.  C.  Dunlap  built  so  well.  He 
was  on  the  leading  districts  and  most  prominent  stations ;  was 
always  a  delegate  to  the  General  Conference,  and  a  leader  in  his 
own.  He  had  very  decided  views,  and  was  very  able  in  contro- 
versy, ready  to  meet  any  foe  of  Methodism  anywhere  and  any 
time.  He  was  a  courteous  but  fearless  debater,  and  his  newspaper 
and  pulpit  discussions  on  controverted  subjects  were  always  able. 
He  died  on  his  knees  while  on  his  district — having  never  been 
forced  to  superannuation. 

The  other  members  of  this  class  were  Robert  A.  Steele,  a 
saintly  young  physician  who  did  much  hard  and  useful  work ;  and 
through  whose  influence  that  remarkable  man,  William  M.  Crum- 
ley, was  converted,  and  Morgan  Bellah,  a  plain,  good  man,  who 
labored  long  and  faithfully,  and  on  hard  fields. 


GEN.  CLEMENT  A.  EVANS. 


REV.    A.    .1.    JARREKL,    I '.I'. 


Georgia  Methodism.  207 

John  R.  Hearne,  who  died  while  on  a  new  mission  in  Burke 
County. 

Joseph  T.  Talley,  Jr.,  Wesley  Starr,  Benjamin  Watson,  Archi- 
bald Smith,  and  Thomas  P.  Lawrence ;  but  none  of  them  contin- 
ued long  in  the  conference. 

Much  of  the  work  was  still  on  the  frontier.  The  Creeks  had 
but  recently  left  the  southern  counties,  and  the  Cherokees  were 
in  the  north;  but  the  Conference  reached  after  these  lost  sheep 
in  the  wilderness.    A  new  circuit  was  made. 

Americus,  the  present  beautiful  county  site  of  Sumter,  was  then 
a  new  town,  and  there  was  preaching  in  it  at  a  private  house  a 
part  of  the  time,  and  a  part  of  the  time  in  a  log  building,  which 
served  as  a  court-house.  This  was  the  second  year  of  the  exist- 
ence of  the  mission,  but  there  were  two  hundred  members  re- 
ported in  these  counties.  Dunwoody  says  that  his  success  was 
but  small  in  the  work.*  The  great  value  of  the  lands  in  that  sec- 
tion were  as  yet  unrecognized,  and  the  large  population  and  im- 
mense wealth  that  afterward  belonged  to  it  were  not  as  yet. 
There  were  two  other  missions  in  this  section,  the  Etowah  and  the 
Randolph.  A  new  mission  was  also  established  in  the  upper  part 
of  the  State,  designed  to  provide  the  gold  regions  with  the  Gospel. 
It  was  left  to  be  filled  by  a  supply,  and  was  called  the  Chestatee 
Mission. 

Immense  excitement  had  arisen  in  Georgia,  resulting  from  the 
discovery  of  gold  on  some  of  the  rivers,  in  the  mountain  country. 
This  discovery  had  been  made  in  1829  in  Habersham  County,  and 
afterwards  on  the  Chestatee  River,  a  mile  or  more  from  Dah- 
lonega.  Immediately  numbers  flocked  to  these  mines.  There  was 
the  wild  gambler,  the  wealthy  speculator,  the  shrewd  land-trader, 
and,  now  and  then,  some  sober  settler  who  sought  a  home  in  one 
of  the  charming  valleys  among  the  mountains,  as  well  as  the  gold 
hunter  who  had  come  to  mine.  The  missionary  was  sent  with 
these  adventurers.  He  reported  at  the  next  conference  130  mem- 
bers. During  this  year,  West  Florida  and  that  part  of  the  Chat- 
tahoochee Circuit  which  was  in  Alabama  was  attached  to  the  Ala- 
bama Conference,  and  ten  members  of  the  Georgia  Conference 
were  transferred  to  Alabama.  At  the  conference,  of  1834,  there 
was  reported  a  decrease  in  the  Georgia  work,  though  there  really 
was  an  increase.  This  is  accounted  for  by  the  transfer  just 
spoken  of. 

Morgan  Bellah,  who  had  travelled  the  Yellow  River  Circuit  the 


*Dunwoody 's  Life. 


208  History  of 

year  before,  was  now  sent  upon  the  Grove.  This  circuit  embraced 
all  Franklin,  Jackson,  Madison,  Hall,  one-half  of  Gwinnett,  and 
one  appointment  in  Walton.  There  was  paid  him  this  year  by  all 
these  counties  $250.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  General  Conference 
required  the  circuits  to  pay  quarterage  of  a  hundred  dollars  to  the 
preacher  and  the  same  to  his  wife,  and  an  amount  sufficient  for 
each  child  with  family  expenses.  There  was  no  means  of  en- 
forcing these  payments,  and  a  large  circuit  was  comforted  by  the 
fact  that  the  preacher,  if  he  did  not  return,  had  no  claim  on  them, 
and  the  conference  would  still  supply  their  pulpit.  There  was  as 
yet  no  financial  system,  no  faithful  preaching  on  the  duty  of  men 
to  use  their  money  for  Christ.  Indeed,  it  is  a  sad  truth  that  a 
large  part  of  the  preaching  of  the  times  was  calculated  to 
strengthen  rather  than  to  overthrow  covetousness.  The  constant 
theme  of  many  preachers  was  the  extravagance  of  the  people,  and 
the  duty  of  close  economy  and  constant  industry  was  enforced, 
but,  alas,  nothing  was  said  about  liberal  giving ;  but  a  better  day 
was  coming.    Slowly,  yet  surely. 

The  size  of  the  circuits,  the  fact  that  the  preacher  came  only 
once  a  month,  and  that  there  was  so  many  members,  led  many  to 
withhold  even  the  small  amount  needed,  since  it  was  so  small  it 
could  not  be  missed. 

Then  the  preacher  did  not  live  among  his  people.  Had  he  done 
so,  they  would  have  willingly  supplied  his  table,  for  they  had 
abundance  of  provisions,  but  they  must  pay  all  they  paid  in 
money,  and  money  was  what  they  had  the  least  of.  The  mission- 
ary and  conference  collections  from  these  sections  were  on  a  par 
with  their  contributions  for  the  support  of  the  ministry.  Although 
these  remarks  with  reference  to  finances  are  made  here,  they 
belong  rather  to  this  period  than  to  this  year,  and  to  this  class  of 
circuits  rather  than  to  the  Grove  alone.  It  was,  indeed,  almost  a 
universal  thing.  John  Howard,  Lovick  Pierce,  William  J.  Parks, 
John  W.  Glenn,  James  Bellah,  Morgan  Bellah,  and  many  others, 
could  not  have  continued  in  the  work  but  for  their  own  private 
resources.  The  salaries  of  Morgan  Bellah  for  several  successive 
years  were  as  follows :  Decatur  Circuit,  including  DeKalb,  Ful- 
ton, Gwinnett,  and  Campbell,  twenty-two  appointments,  $180. 

Newnan  Circuit,  with  Coweta,  half  of  Fayette,  Campbell  and 
Heard  Counties,  twenty-two  appointments,  between  $150  and 
$200. 

The  preacher  accidentally  overheard  the  stewards  on  a  circuit 
discussing  the  question  of  salary.  One  of  them  remarked,  and  the 
other  assented  to  it,  that  they  ought  to  give  him  at  least  as  much 


Georgia  Methodism.  209 

as  an  ordinary  field-hand  was  worth,  say  $15  per  month.  This 
they  did,  and  paid  him  for  a  year's  work  about  $180. 

Fayette  and  Campbell  paid  $136  for  the  support  of  a  man,  his 
wife  and  seven  children. 

The  Monroe  (Walton  Circuit)  paid  him  for  an  entire  year's 
work  $86. 

The  Forsyth  Circuit  alone  gave  him  a  support  and  paid  him 
$500. 

We  have  given  these  figures  as  a  simple  evidence  of  the  devo- 
tion of  the  preachers  and  of  the  trials  they  were  forced  to  un- 
dergo. With  the  Baptist  denomination  it  was  even  worse,  for 
their  preachers  received  literally  nothing  in  the  way  of  salary  in 
many  of  these  same  sections,  but  then  their  preachers  were  not 
required  to  be  from  home  twenty-eight  days  in  the  month,  and 
travel  over  wide  areas  of  country,  not  being  able  to  be  with  their 
families  more  than  one-tenth  of  the  time. 

The  gracious  and  wonderful  revival,  which  for  almost  two 
years  had  blessed  the  State,  seems  to  have  now  to  some  extent 
declined.  There  was  but  little  increase  in  any  of  the  circuits  and 
really  but  little  decrease.  Indeed,  from  1823  to  the  present  time, 
the  Church  has  known  no  retrogression.  For  a  short  time  there 
may  have  been  a  halt  in  its  onward  progress,  but  it  was  only  for 
a  little  while ;  with  increased  power  it  had  then  moved  forward. 
There  was  an  increase  even  this  year  of  nearly  300  white  mem- 
bers. Much  of  the  work  now  was  in  securing  the  permanent  re- 
sults of  the  great  revival  of  the  ten  years  gone  by. 

The  conference  for  1834  met  in  Washington.  Bishop  Emory 
presided,  and  Bishop  Andrew  came  with  him.  It  was  the  first 
and  only  time  that  this  gifted  and  excellent  man  presided  at  a 
Georgia  conference.  He  was  a  man  of  broad  cultivation,  a  writer 
of  unusual  elegance  and  power.  He  had  led  the  progressives,  and 
contributed  largely  to  their  victory  in  1820,  when  the  question  of 
whether  presiding  elders  should  be  elected,  was  settled  affirma- 
tively. When,  however,  the  malcontents  left  the  Church  to  found 
the  Methodist  Protestant,  Emory  was  the  strongest  defender  of 
Episcopal  Methodism,  and  in  his  defense  of  the  fathers  and  his 
History  of  the  disciples,  he  did  work  for  the  Church  of  lasting 
value.  He  had  been  elevated  to  this  high  office  of  Bishop  at  the 
same  time  at  which  Bishop  Andrew  was  elected,  and  of  his  early 
and  sudden  death  we  have  already  told. 

At  this  conference  the  great  question  discussed  concerned  the 
educational  interests  of  the  Church. 

Olin,  now  the  President  of  Randolph  Macon,  was  present  in 


210  History  of 

the  interest  of  that  institution,  and  soliciting  an  agent  and  an  en- 
dowment. Few,  who  was  a  foeman  worthy  of  his  steel,  was  in 
favor  of  a  Georgia  institution ;  and  they  crossed  swords.  It  was 
finally,  however,  decided  to  give  Randolph  Macon  an  agent,  and 
in  consideration  of  seven  free  scholarships,  to  endow  a  professor- 
ship with  $10,000.  Elijah  Sinclair  was  made  the  agent.  The  full 
endowment  was  never  secured.  We  have  noted  the  offer  of  the 
Culloden  School  to  the  conference,  and  the  conference  action  on 
the  subject.  It  came  up  again  at  this  session  in  a  proposition  to 
establish  a  manual  labor  school  at  Culloden.  The  school  was  de- 
cided upon  but  not  the  place,  and  John  Howard  was  appointed 
agent.  Of  the  after  history  of  this  school  our  readers  are  re- 
ferred to  the  succeeding  chapter  on  "Education  in  the  Georgia 
Conference." 

The  conference  of  1833  was  held  in  LaGrange,  January  2nd. 
LaGrange  was  a  sprightly  country  town,  not  ten  years  old.  It 
was  on  the  western  border  of  the  conference.  To  reach  it,  the 
preachers  had  to  travel  on  horseback,  gigs  and  sulkeys — and  yet 
a  goodly  number  were  present  the  first  day. 

Bishop  Andrew  was  present  and  presided.  John  Howard  was 
again  secretary.  LaGrange  had  projected  no  college  of  her  own. 
There  was  considerable  strife  between  the  new  college  of  La 
Grange,  Alabama,  and  the  Randolph-Macon  ;  and  the  agents  of 
each  advocated  the  claims  of  their  schools.  The  matter  was  re- 
ferred to  a  committee  of  which  Stephen  Olin  was  chairman. 

The  conference  finally  resolved  to  accept  the  proposition  of  the 
trustees  of  Randolph  Macon.  Doctor  Few,  who  was  anxious  for 
a  Georgia  college,  was  opposed  to  the  resolution,  and  succeeded 
in  preventing  the  appointment  of  an  agent ;  but  by  a  vote  of  the 
conference,  John  Early,  the  agent  of  the  Virginia  Conference  for 
Randolph  Macon  College,  had  full  permission  to  collect  what 
funds  he  could  in  Georgia. 

The  trustees  of  the  school  at  Culloden,  which  was  then  a  flour- 
ishing village  in  Monroe  County,  had  proffered  their  institute  to 
the  conference  on  certain  conditions.  It  was  not  accepted  at  this 
conference,  and  the  settlement  of  the  matter  was  deferred  to  the 
next  conference,  when,  as  is  seen  elsewhere,  the  Manual  Labor 
School,  out  of  which  came  Emory  College,  was  endorsed. 

Sixteen  were  admitted  on  trial,  among  them  Windsor  Graham, 
who  was  a  plain,  good  man,  and  who  did  good  and  hard  work, 
and  was  long  a  superannuated  preacher ;  Eli  Bennett,  who,  after 
travelling  for  a  number  of  years,  was  superannuated  and  died  in 
connection  with  the  conference ;  John  B.  Barton,  who  went  to 


Georgia  Methodism.  211 

Africa  a  missionary  and  died  there  soon  after  his  arrival;  John 
W.  Remshart,  who  located  and  died  in  Savannah.  John  W. 
Yarb rough,  another  of  this  class,  was  a  mountain  boy,  the  son 
of  an  old  Quaker  who  had  been  converted  in  one  of  the  Hall 
County  camp  meetings.  He  was  a  young  man  of  extraordinary 
parts.  Full  of  humor,  noted  for  strong  common  sense,  a  man  of 
fiery  temper,  of  great  energy,  and  of  unquestioned  courage,  stu- 
dious and  thoughtful,  a  fervid  revivalist,  he  was  put  on  very  hard 
and  responsible  posts  and  bravely  did  the  work  assigned  him.  He 
was  on  important  circuits  and  large  districts,  and  always  did 
effective  work.  He  was  in  a  large  degree  the  father  of  Meth- 
odism in  Atlanta,  as  he  was  in  charge  of  that  city  when  it  was  in 
the  DeKalb  Circuit  in  1848.  He  spent  his  last  days  at  his  own 
home  in  Oxford.  His  daughter  married  Bishop  Haygood,  and  his 
oldest  son  is  the  Rev.  Doctor  Yarbrough,  of  the  North  Georgia 
Conference. 

Rev.  W.  W.  Robison  was  admitted  at  this  conference.  He  was 
for  fourteen  years  effective,  then  for  many  years  local.  He  re- 
entered the  conference  and  worked  efficiently  till  he  died.  His 
death  was  eminently  peaceful. 

David  Bird,  Henry  Tyler,  Francis  V.  McKee,  Robert  H.  Bon- 
ner, Russell  J.  Richardson,  Ivy  F.  Stegall,  were  also  admitted  on 
trial,  but  did  not  remain  many  years  in  active  connection  with  the 
conference.  James  Payne,  as  he  is  written  in  the  list  of  those  ad- 
mitted on  trial,  (but  James  B.  Payne  as  he  subsequently  appears) 
was  one  of  the  worthiest  men  of  his  day.  He  was  born  in  North 
Carolina,  and  had  a  moderately  good  education  for  those  times. 
He,  alas !  fell  into  the  habit  of  occasional  drunkenness,  but  his 
wife  was  a  woman  of  great  piety.  He  had  drifted  down  to  Wash- 
ington County,  Georgia,  where  he  was  overseer  on  a  plantation. 
One  night  the  circuit  preacher  had  a  prayer  meeting  in  the  little 
village,  and  he  attended  it  with  his  wife.  He  was  very  much 
under  the  influence  of  drink.  When  the  preacher  opened  the  door 
of  the  church,  he  staggered  forward  and  gave  him  his  hand.  The 
next  day  when  he  had  become  sober  again,  his  wife  said  to  him: 

"James,  do  you  know  what  you  did  last  night?" 

He  said:    "No,  what  did  I  do?" 

"You  joined  in  society." 

"Did  I?    Well,  God  helping  me,  I'll  stick  up  to  it." 

He  was  soon  converted.  He  was  licensed  to  preach  and  ad- 
mitted into  conference.  He  was  one  of  the  most  saintly  and  use- 
ful members,  and  after  years  of  activity  was  superannuated.  He 
passed  away  at  a  very  advanced  age.     He  was  the  father  of  the 


212  History  of 

noble  Young  Joshua  Payne,  who  died  a  martyr  to  yellow  fever  in 
Savannah,  in  1854. 

Edmund  W.  Reynolds  began  work  this  year  and  on  hard  cir- 
cuits did  his  work  well.  He  at  last  received  a  superannuated  rela- 
tion, and  settled  near  Fairburn,  where  he  continued  to  work  as 
far  as  his  strength  allowed.  He  died  very  suddenly  and  was 
found,  after  several  days'  search,  by  the  wayside,  lifeless.  He 
was  a  decided  character,  a  man  of  large  frame  and  strong  will, 
and  had  been  a  very  hard  worker  in  his  active  ministry.  His  son, 
John  W.  Reynolds,  was  a  most  gifted  young  preacher,  and  died 
during  the  year  in  which  his  father  also  died. 

Georgia  now  presented  great  diversity  in  her  work.  In  the 
older  parts  of  the  State  there  was  elegance,  refinement,  and  high 
culture;  while  in  parts  of  Florida,  Northern  and  Western  Geor- 
gia, the  hardest  work  of  Humphries,  Major,  Hull,  and  Norton 
was  being  more  than  equalled. 

The  missions  to  the  slaves  were  worked  most  vigorously,  and 
with  good  results.  There  was  now  nearly  8,000  colored  members 
in  the  State. 

The  conference  for  1835  met  in  Savannah,  January  7th.  Bishop 
Andrew  presided.     Eighteen  were  admitted  on  trial. 

Two  young  Northerners  who  came  to  this  conference  were 
admitted  on  trial ;  they  were  George  H.  Round  and  George  W. 
Lane.  The  first  took  his  place  as  classical  teacher  of  the  Manual 
Labor  School ;  the  other,  in  delicate  health,  was  appointed  to  St. 
Augustine,  Fla.  George  W.  Lane  was  the  son  of  George  Lane, 
who  was  for  so  many  years  a  member  of  the  Philadelphia  Con- 
ference, and  book  agent  for  the  Church.  He  was  highly  gifted  by 
nature,  had  been  a  hard  student,  and  was  one  of  the  purest- 
hearted  of  Christian  men.  He  was  a  remarkably  fine  preacher, 
and  would  have  reached  the  highest  eminence  in  the  pulpit,  but 
that  the  great  need  for  educated  Christian  men  to  educate  the 
children  of  Christians  called  him  from  the  field  he  loved  so  well 
into  the  lecture-room  of  the  professor.  He  was  selected  first  as 
a  teacher  in  the  Manual  Labor  School,  and  then  as  a  professor 
in  Emory  College.  He  was  an  enthusiastic  and  accomplished 
teacher,  but  he  never  allowed  his  fondness  for  study  or  teaching 
to  interfere  with  his  religious  labors.  He  loved  to  preach,  and 
preached  much.  Not  long  after  he  came  to  Georgia,  he  married 
a  lovely  woman,  in  every  way  worthy  of  him.  and  spent  a  few 
happy  and  useful  years  in  Oxford,  as  professor  of  the  languages. 
He  was,  with  his  devoted  colleagues,  enlisted  in  the  arduous  and 
trying  work  of  building  up  a  new  college,  and  had  seen  it  almost 


Georgia  Methodism.  213 

established,  as  he  hoped,  for  the  future,  when,  in  1847,  he  was 
taken  violently  ill,  and  in  the  vigor  of  his  young  manhood  passed 
away  to  his  reward.  George  W.  Lane  was  one  of  the  loveliest 
and  most  gifted  men  who  ever  did  work  in  the  Georgia  Confer- 
ence, and  his  memory  is  a  precious  legacy  to  his  brethren. 

Alexander  Speer  entered  the  conference  and  was  stationed  in 
Savannah.  He  was  a  man  of  very  fine  parts,  had  been  a  leading 
politician  in  South  Carolina,  and  at  one  time  was  Secretary  of 
State  in  that  commonwealth.  He  was  for  some  years  a  local 
preacher,  and  then  entered  the  conference.  After  some  very  use- 
ful service,  he  retired  again  to  the  local  ranks,  and  was  a  useful 
local  preacher  till  his  death.  He  was  a  man  of  very  fine  cultiva- 
tion and  of  great  native  eloquence.  In  size  he  was  very  portly, 
but  in  spite  of  his  corpulency,  he  was  active  and  useful  as  a  pas- 
tor.' He  left  two  sons :  Rev.  Dr.  Eustace  W.  Speer,  for  a  long 
time  a  useful  pastor  in  the  conference,  and  then  professor  in  the 
State  University ;  and  Judge  Alexander  M.  Speer,  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Georgia. 

Russell  W.  Johnson,  one  of  two  brothers  who  entered  the  con- 
ference this  year,  after  some  years  of  hard  and  useful  work,  lo- 
cated and  settled  in  Jefferson  County,  where,  as  a  local  preacher 
and  steward,  he  advanced  the  local  interests  of  the  Church. 

Dr.  Lovick  Pierce  was  placed  on  the  Savannah  District.  _  In 
this  district  Sandersville  first  appears  as  a  circuit.  The  Washing- 
ton County  Circuit  had  been  one  of  the  first  in  the  State.  Asbury 
had  visited  Buffalo  Creek  and  Harris  Meeting-house,  New  Cha- 
pel, and  Fenn's  Bridge,  all  of  which  are  in  that  county.  It  was 
now  a  large  circuit,  including  all  of  Laurens  as  well  as  all  of 
Washington  County,  and  had  405  members  in  it.  The  church  in 
the  town  of  Sandersville  was  an  ungainly  building,  without  paint, 
blinds,  or  ceiling,  and  located  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town.  The 
leading  men  of  Washington  were  wealthy  disciples  of  Epicurus, 
some  of  them  men  of  very  fine  intelligence,  and  openly  and  defi- 
antly infidel.  The  fact  that  the  circuit  was  a  poor  one,  and  the 
minister  always  poorly  provided  for,  led  for  many  years  to  the 
starvation  policy,  and  preachers  of  most  ordinary  gifts  were  sent 
to  work  hopelessly;  but  in  1857  the  Rev.  W.  J.  Cotter,  by  an  ear- 
nest effort,  built  a  handsome  church  in  Sandersville,  and  the  con- 
ference had  labored  to  supply  the  work  well ;  so  that  now  San- 
dersville is  quite  a  pleasant  station  in  the  South  Georgia  Confer- 
ence. The  preacher  on  that  circuit  in  1835  began  his  work  on  the 
borders  of  Hancock,  and   found    his    most  remote  appointment 


214  History  of 

some  sixty  or  seventy  miles  below,  in  the  pine  woods  of  Mont- 
gomery. 

Six  located  at  the  conference,  two  of  whom,  John  S.  Ford  and 
Raleigh  Greene,  afterward  returned  to  the  itinerancy.  Josiah 
Evans,  who  had  done  as  much  hard  work  as  any  man  of  his  age 
in  the  ministry,  located  to  return  no  more. 

During  this  session,  for  the  first  time,  we  have  an  answer  to 
the  fourteenth  question,  "What  amounts  are  necessary  for  the 
superannuated  preachers,  and  the  widows  and  orphans  of  preach- 
ers, and  to  make  up  the  deficiencies  of  those  who  have  not  re- 
ceived their  regular  allowance  on  the  circuits  ?"  The  answer  was 
$4,137.81.  In  answer  to  the  question,  what  has  been  collected,  we 
catch  our  first  glimpse  of  the  financial  operations  of  those  days. 

For  nearly  fifty  years  the  Church  had  been  at  work,  and  this  is 
the  first  published  evidence  that  she  believed  in  the  practical  be- 
nevolence which  was  manifested  in  money-giving,  save  the  re- 
port of  the  missionary  collections  of  William  Capers,  when  he  was 
establishing  the  mission  to  the  Creeks.  That  our  Church,  which 
has  been  so  grandly  heroic  in  her  devotion  to  what  she  believed 
to  be  right,  had  been  sadly  in  the  rear  in  her  benevolent  contribu- 
tions, is  a  painful  truth,  one  with  which  we  are  twitted  in  the  pub- 
lished sermons  of  the  amiable  and  gifted  Bishop  Elliott;  but  how 
it  could  be  otherwise  under  the  instruction,  or  rather  want  of  in- 
struction of  the  fathers,  it  is  difficult  to  conceive. 

All  our  preachers  were  missionaries.  The  people,  when  the 
ministers  first  began  their  work,  were  all  alike  poor ;  the  demands 
of  the  home  work,  and  the  general  poverty  of  the  Methodists,  and 
the  evangelization  of  the  Indians,  forbade  any  extra  American 
work,  but  while  this  may  be  said  in  mitigation,  it  is  very  evident 
that  the  ministry  had  no  true  idea  of  the  money  power  in  the 
Church.  Revolt  from  error  often  goes  too  far,  and  revolt  from 
the  teachings  of  Rome,  in  which  money  had  such  high  place  and 
promised  so  much,  led  the  Methodists  and  Baptists  to  discard 
almost  entirely  the  mammon  of  unrighteousness,  and  it  became 
the  enemy,  rather  than  the  friend,  of  the  Church.  This  list  of 
collections  is  the  only  true  picture  of  the  liberality  of  the  times 
we  have  been  able  to  secure.  The  largest  amount  reported  is  from 
the  Alcovi  Circuit,  which  sent  up  $144,  Augusta  sent  $27,  Savan- 
nah $131,  Athens  and  Madison  $9.41,  the  Yellow  River  $2.00. 
There  were  but  two  applications  for  aid  from  the  active  workers, 
and  the  rest  was  divided  among  the  superannuated  preachers  and 
the  widows  and  orphans.  The  amount  contributed  for  missions 
was  $1,208. 


Georgia  Methodism.  215 

Andrew  Hammill  was  removed  from  the  Columbus  district  and 
sent  to  the  Savannah.  The  Augusta  District  ceases,  and  the  terri- 
tory hitherto  included  in  it  is  divided  between  the  Athens,  Mil- 
ledgeville  and  Savannah.  Wm.  Arnold  still  remained  on  the 
Athens  District,  and  William  J.  Parks  was  sent  to  the  Milledge- 
ville  District.  He  was  living  in  Franklin  County ;  he  could  not 
move,  and  the  nearest  point  on  his  district  was  120  miles  from 
him,  the  most  remote  perhaps  350.  He  shrank  from  the  appoint- 
ment, but  went  to  it,  and  did  his  work  well. 

A  new  district  was  laid  out,  called  the  Cherokee,  and  Isaac 
Boring  was  appointed  to  it.  It  swept  entirely  across  the  northern 
part  of  the  State,  beginning  at  Clarksville,  and  ending  at  Vans 
Valley,  all  the  way  from  the  Savannah  to  the  Coosa  Rivers,  and 
from  Henry  County  to  the  Blue  Ridge. 

There  were  two  new  missions  on  the  district,  the  Vans  Valley, 
which  included  all  that  section  in  the  western  part  of  the  State 
north  of  Carroll  County,  and  reaching  up  to  Chattooga.  J.  T. 
Talley  was  sent  to  it.  The  Indians  were  still  there,  but  a  few 
white  settlers,  drawn  thither  by  the  fertility  of  the  lands,  were 
scattered  through  the  valleys.  The  Connesauga  Mission  joined 
the  Vans  Valley  on  the  north,  and  extended  eastward.  It  included 
the  Counties  of  Murray,  Whitefield,  Gordon,  and  parts  of  Gilmer 
lying  on  the  Connesauga  River.  The  office  of  a  presiding  elder  in 
a  new  territory  like  this  is  especially  important,  and  the  gifted  and 
devoted  Boring  was  admirably  suited  to  the  work  of  filling  it.  As 
yet  the  Cherokee  Indians  occupied  a  large  part  of  this  section; 
reluctant  to  leave  the  homes  of  their  fathers,  and  to  remove  to  an 
unknown  land,  yet  realizing  the  hopelessness  of  a  resistance  to 
the  power  that  demands  it,  this  really  admirable  race  of  Indians 
were  taking  their  last  view  of  the  charming  valleys  and  beautiful 
mountains,  which  in  a  few  more  years  they  were  to  see  no  more 
forever.  To  the  Chestatee  Mission,  in  the  Cherokee  country, 
which  was  established  the  year  before,  John  B.  Chappell  was  sent. 
All  the  effort  of  the  State  to  keep  white  men  from  settling  in  the 
nation,  where,  according  to  the  glowing  reports  of  the  time,  the 
very  river  sands  sparkled  with  gold,  had  been  in  vain,  and  some 
villages  had  already  sprung  up  in  this  section.  Among  these  was 
Nucklesville,  afterward  Auraria,  in  Lumpkin  County.  Here  the 
missionary  had  an  appointment;  here  crime  held  daily  carnival. 
Gambling,  cock-fighting,  drunkenness,  debauchery  of  all  kinds,  did 
not  condescend  to  seek  a  cover.  One  night  the  preacher,  who 
preached  at  a  private  house,  announced  that  the  next  night  there 
would  be  religious  service  at  another  house.    A  gambler  arose  and 


216  History  of 

said :  "Oyez,  Oyez,  I  give  notice  that  tomorrow  night  I  will  open 
my  faro  bank,'   at  a  place  he  named. 

On  the  south  of  the  Chestatee  Mission,  and  reaching  down  till 
it  joined  the  Decatur  Circuit,  was  the  Forsyth  Mission,  which  was 
left  to  be  supplied. 

As  of  old,  Methodism  strove  to  cover  with  her  wings  the  whole 
land,  to  provide  a  ministry  for  all  the  people.  Now  she  was  able 
through  her  mission  boards  to  supply  a  service  to  all,  and  numbers 
of  gifted  and  devoted  men  arose  at  her  bidding.  They  were  her 
children;  she  had  raised  now  a  family  of  sons  who  were  able  to 
do  the  work  which  duty  so  imperiously  demanded.  At  the  next 
conference  this  Cherokee  District  reported  a  membership  of  3,666 
members. 

Florida  was  now  divided  into  two  districts,  the  Tallahassee  and 
St.  Augustine.  George  A.  Chappell  was  sent  on  the  St.  Augustine 
and  John  W.  Talley  on  the  Tallahassee.  The  St.  Augustine  Dis- 
trict included  a  considerable  part  of  lower  Georgia.  The  preachers 
on  this  hard  work  were  all  of  them  single  men.  John  W.  Yar- 
brough  was  on  the  Irwin  Mission.  He  was  a  young  man  just  from 
the  mountains,  and  his  first  appointment,  Irwin  County,  was  in 
Southern  Georgia,  in  the  wire-grass  country.  It  is  still  a  very 
large  county,  but  then  was  several  times  as  large  as  now.  The 
lands  were  very  poor,  the  settlers  few.  In  1866  the  writer  of  this 
volume  rode  seventeen  miles  in  its  borders,  without  seeing  a  single 
dwelling,  or  a  living  being,  save  a  deer  leaping  through  the  pine 
woods,  and  this  was  thirty  years  after  Yarbrough  was  sent  there. 
There  were  not  many  Methodists  in  the  section,  but  the  Church 
has  striven  to  see  to  all  the  needs  of  these  people,  and  with  the 
opening  of  new  lines  of  railway,  and  new  industries  beside  cattle- 
raising,  there  is  now  a  new  impetus  both  to  the  temporal  and  spir- 
itual interests  in  that  section. 

Hawkinsville  appears  for  the  first  time  as  a  separate  charge, 
with  James  E.  Evans  as  stationed  preacher. 

It  was  quite  a  flourishing  town ;  as  there  was  navigation  for 
boats  to  it  the  year  round,  it  was  an  important  commercial  point. 
The  productive  plantations  of  Houston,  Pulaski  and  Dooly,  as  well 
as  the  country  south  of  it,  found  a  shipping  point  and  market  here. 
There  was  much  wealth,  and  much  dissipation  and  gayety.  The 
church  had  been  an  appointment  in  the  Houston  Circuit,  and  had 
only  nine  members  in  it.  During  the  year  there  was  a  great  re- 
vival, and  at  the  next  conference  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  mem- 
bers were  reported. 

It  continued  a  separate  charge  for  a  few  years,  but  with  the 


Georgia  Methodism.  217 

completion  of  the  Central  Railroad  and  with  the  growth  of  Macon, 
Hawkinsville  lost  its  commercial  position  and  fell  back  into  a  cir- 
cuit again.  But  when  the  Macon  and  Brunswick  Railroad  was  fin- 
ished it  began  to  revive  again,  and  is  now  a  flourishing  city  with  a 
good  church. 

Irwinton,  which  had  been  before  in  the  Ocmulgee  Circuit,  was 
made  a  separate  charge,  and  Jas.  B.  Payne  was  sent  to  it.  He  re- 
ported 577  white  members.  The  Tallahassee  District,  under  the 
presiding  edlership  of  young  Talley,  included  all  the  lower  part  of 
western  Georgia.  Capel  Raiford  was  sent  to  the  Lowndes  Circuit. 
This  circuit  embraced  as  much  territory  as  a  district  does  now.  The 
larger  part  of  its  scattered  inhabitants  were  engaged  in  stock  rais- 
raising.  Their  cattle  ranges  covered  large  areas  of  wire  grass 
lands,  though  now  and  then,  in  some  fertile  hammocks,  there  were 
the  prosperous  cotton  planters  who  sought  a  market  for  their  prod- 
ucts by  sending  cotton  to  St.  Mark's,  Fla.,  and  shipping  it  thence 
to  New  York.  This  circuit,  the  boundaries  of  which  we  are  unable 
exactly  to  define,  included  probably  all  that  section  of  country 
stretching  from  the  Okefenoke  swamp  westward  to  the  Thomas 
county  line.  Thomas  County,  Georgia,  was  in  the  Monticello 
(Florida)  Circuit,  while  Decatur  County  was  supplied  from  the 
Gadsden  (Fla.),  Circuit.  North  of  Decatur  County  was  the  Fort 
Gaines  circuit.  Fort  Gaines  was  now  a  young  city,  which  was 
shipping  cotton  to  New  York  and  Europe,  and  the  country  around 
was  being  settled  with  rapidity.  The  presiding  elder  of  the  Talla- 
hassee District  traveled  on  horseback  from  the  Flint  River  to  the 
Okefenoke  swamp,  and  from  the  gulf  coast  for  over  a  hundred 
miles  northward  into  Georgia.  The  difficulties  of  travel  were  very 
great,  and  the  privations  demanded  of  the  severest  kind.  There 
was  probably  not  a  bridge  in  the  whole  district.  The  streams, 
which  in  summer  time  were  shallow  brooks,  in  the  winter  would 
have  floated  a  frigate,  and  as  there  were  few  ferries,  the  preacher 
crossed  them  as  he  could. 

His  fare  in  the  wire-grass  section  of  this  district,  which  included 
a  large  part  of  it,  was  musty  corn  bread  and  butter,  milk,  clabber 
or  Youpon  tea,  with  now  and  then  honey,  sometimes  venison  or 
dried  beef.  The  home  in  which  he  reposed  his  weary  limbs  we 
have  not  been  out  of  sight  of  in  this  history,  a  pole  cabin  with  a 
clap-board  roof  and  a  dirt  floor ;  but  in  some  of  the  richer  ham- 
mocks of  Thomas  and  Decatur  Counties,  even  then  he  found  com- 
fort, and  if  not  delicate  refinement,  yet  warm  hospitality.  In  Flor- 
ida, however,  he  came  in  contact  even  then  with  the  highest  culture 
and  elegance.    The  stationed  preacher  in  Tallahassee  was  Arche- 


218  History  of 

laus  H.  Mitchell,  and  he  had  perhaps  as  intelligent  and  as  godless 
a  congregation  as  any  young  city  in  America  presented. 

The  St.  Augustine  District  presented  even  greater  difficulties. 
Beginning  at  Telfair  and  Tattnall  Counties  the  presiding  elder 
made  his  way  through  the  swamps  of  the  Altamaha  to  Darien, 
thence  down  the  coast  into  Florida,  finding  the  terminus  of  his 
long  journey  at  St.  Augustine,  and  joining  the  Tallahassee  District 
on  the  west. 

George  F.  Pierce  was  transferred  to  South  Carolina  and  ap- 
pointed to  Charleston,  and  Wm.  Capers  took  his  place  at  Savan- 
nah. This  was  an  instance  of  the  exchange  of  ministers  between 
conferences,  which  is  so  often  demanded  in  order  to  man  the 
works,  and  yet  so  often  denounced.  Special  transfers  are  not  new 
features  in  Methodism,  but  where  there  is  correspondence  between 
committees  and  preachers,  and  the  mutual  interests  of  preacher 
and  the  individual  congregation  are  the  moving  influences,  they  are 
an  unmixed  evil  and  are  new  features  in  the  Church.  Not  so  when 
the  appointing  power  selected  by  the  church  for  this  work  com- 
mands the  transfer  for  general  good. 

The  Conference  of  1835  met  in  Savannah  in  January.  James 
Jones,  Francis  M.  Smith,  John  E.  C.  Hains,  Joseph  Edwards, 
Thomas  Williamson,  David  Dailey,  Thomas  L.  Thomas,  George 
W.  Person,  George  W.  Cotton  were  admitted  on  trial,  but  none 
of  them  remained  long  in  the  conference.  They  all  went  back  into 
the  local  ranks,  and  of  some  of  them  I  have  no  knowledge. 
Thomas  L.  Thomas  was  long  a  worthy  local  preacher,  who  was 
one  of  the  earliest  citizens  of  Atlanta.  George  W.  Person  was 
for  many  years  a  local  preacher  in  Houston. 

Henry  P.  Pitch  ford  was  long  a  worthy  member  of  the  Georgia 
Conference.  Without  striking  gifts,  he  was  zealous,  pious,  and 
in  every  way  a  worthy  man. 

James  Jones  served  the  Church  as  a  travelling  preacher  for 
many  years.  A  plain  man,  with  but  limited  education,  he  won 
his  way  by  patient  industry  and  faithful  service;  on  the  hum- 
blest missions  to  the  negroes  or  poor  white  people  he  toiled  much 
of  his  time,  and  left  evidences  of  how  well  he  worked  in  the  har- 
vest he  garnered. 

Miller  H.  White,  after  a  rapid  advance  in  the  early  days  of 
his  ministry,  was  forced  by  failing  health  to  take  a  supernumer- 
ary relation.  He  studied  medicine  and  practised  for  many  years ; 
then  returned  to  active  work,  where  he  was  very  efficient. 

Tt  was  during  this  Conference  year  that  the  Manual  Labor 
School,  of  which  we  speak  more  fully  elsewhere,  began  its  active 


Georgia  Methodism.  219 

work,  with  George  H.  Round  as  its  classical  teacher,  and  that  an 
agent  was  appointed  to  collect  funds  for  it,  as  well  as  one  to  collect 
for  Randolph  Macon  College.  John  Howard  was  agent  for  the 
Manual  Labor  School,  and  Elijah  Sinclair  for  Randolph  Macon. 
Among  those  admitted  on  trial,  who  traveled  only  a  little  time, 
were  Alex  McAlpen,  Wyatt  R.  Singleton,  William  F.  Jones,  Ab- 
ner  Pennington,  James  R.  Smith,  Reuben  E.  Oslin,  John  M. 
Vestal,  Osborn  R.  Franklin,  Isaac  Faulkenberg,  Robert  S.  Wil- 
son, Alfred  M.  Batty,  John  B.  Davis,  William  Quantock,  James 
E.  Godfrey  and  Charles  L.  Hays.  Hays  was  a  useful  preacher, 
who,  after  some  years  of  faithful  work,  was  superannuated,  and 
died  in  the  Conference.  Noah  Smith  was  for  many  years  a  very 
useful  and  popular  preacher  on  the  circuits,  and  died  a  superan- 
nuated preacher.  J.  T.  Turner  was  a  useful  preacher  and  presid- 
ing elder  of  Southwest  Georgia. 


CHAPTER  II. 
1 836- 1 840. 

There  were  two  conferences  in  1836.  The  first  was  held  in 
Macon,  January  13th,  Bishop  Andrew  presiding.  John  Howard 
for  the  last  time  was  secretary.  Eighteen  were  admitted  on  trial. 
Jno.  W.  Glenn  began  his  itinerant  ministry  at  this  conference. 
He  was  then  a  man  of  mature  years,  was  a  successful  mechanic, 
and  a  man  well-to-do  in  the  world.  He  had  prominent  place 
among  his  own  county  people,  and  had  been  elected  Judge  of 
the  Inferior  Court.  He  had  decided  to  enter  the  legal  profession, 
and  had  begun  to  study  law  when  John  Howard  influenced  him 
to  yield  to  his  convictions  of  duty  and  become  a  traveling  preacher. 

He  was  so  able  a  preacher,  and  withal  possessed  such  fine  ad- 
ministrative capacity,  that  he  was  placed  in  the  presiding  elder- 
ship, and  filled  the  office  for  many  years  with  very  signal  ability. 

He  was  a  man  of  unusual  parts.  Without  making  any  claim 
to  great  learning,  he  really  possessed  that  best  of  learning — a 
knowledge  of  men  and  things.  He  was  recognized  as  a  wise 
man  everywhere.  Statesmen  respected  the  value  of  his  opinions, 
farmers  and  mechanics  were  ready  to  take  his  advice,  while  in 
the  Church  his  decisions  were  almost  always  accepted.  He  did 
not  speak  a  great  deal,  but  whenever  he  did  his  words  were  few, 
pointed,  and  forcible.  It  was  very  rare  indeed  for  the  conference 
to  go  against  his  will.  He  was  for  years  a  presiding  elder  and 
on  large  districts,  and  all  those  higher  qualities  which  are  de- 
manded in  one  who  has  to  control  hundreds  of  churches  and 
thousands  of  members  were  brought  into  exercise.  In  the  often 
intricate  questions  of  church  law  which  were  brought  before  him, 
he  evinced  remarkable  legal  ability.  The  work  he  was  called 
to  do  was  very  difficult  and  entailed  much  labor ;  but  he  did  his 
work  without  a  murmur.  He  did  not  seem  to  have  much  gentle- 
ness in  his  nature,  and  those  who  saw  the  stern-looking  man  in 
the  pulpit,  savagely  shaking  his  enormous  head  as  he  poured 
out,  in  homely  Saxon,  stirring  invectives  against  some  popular 
evil,  little  dreamed  how  gentle  and  tender  he  was  towards  the 
feeble.  He  was  a  man  of  rare  pulpit  power;  and,  although 
he  was  always  plain  and  spoke  for  plain  people,  he  was  yet  so 
racy  and  so  strong  that  he  was  as  popular  in  the  large  cities  as  in 
the  rural  districts.  Although  one  of  the  plainest  and  most  con- 
servative of  men,  he  was  willing  to  see  when  the  day  had  passed 


Georgia  Methodism.  221 

for  anything  to  which  he  had  clung  with  affection,  and  to  accom- 
modate himself  readily  to  change.  To  the  younger  preachers  he 
was  a  father  indeed.  He  continued  for  many  years  an  active 
preacher,  and  when  his  work  gave  way  remained  in  cheerful 
retirement  until  the  end  came,  when  peacefully  and  triumphantly 
he  passed  to  his  reward. 

For  years  Dr.  Lovick  Pierce  had  insisted  that  the  meagre  sup- 
port of  the  preachers,  and  the  want  of  success  in  many  depart- 
ments of  church  work  was  owing  to  the  great  size  of  the  circuits, 
and  that  the  demands  of  the  country  villages  required  that  a 
preacher  should  live  in  them  and  go  around  his  circuit  every  two 
weeks.  This  proposition  alarmed  many  preachers  and  people. 
If  a  preacher  was  not  supported  on  the  Cedar  Creek  or  Apalachee 
Circuit,  with  its  thousand  members,  and  including  nearly  three 
counties  each,  how  could  one  county  support  a  preacher.  It  was 
a  question  of  simple  arithmetic,  but  for  once  figures  lied  egregi- 
ously.  The  smaller  circuits  did  much  better  than  the  larger  ones 
had  done. 

The  Cedar  Creek,  Apalachee,  Alcovi  and  Ocmulgee  Circuits 
are  heard  of  no  more.  Many  precious  memories  clustered  around 
these  names,  and  they  were  not  readily  given  up ;  but  they  were 
now  surrendered,  and  the  location  of  the  circuits  was  now  indi- 
cated by  the  names  they  bore.  There  were  generally  from  ten 
to  fourteen  churches  in  a  circuit,  and  they  were  to  be  supplied 
with  public  service  every  two  weeks. 

The  Forsyth  Circuit  had  a  new  circuit  formed  from  it — the 
Knoxville.  The  Apalachee  was  divided  between  the  Madison, 
Watkinsville  and  Greensboro,  and  this  name,  so  dear  to  the  old 
Methodists,  ceases  to  be. 

The  county  of  Jones  was  separated  from  the  Cedar  Creek  Cir- 
cuit, and  James  B.  Payne  was  sent  in  charge  of  it. 

In  this  circuit  lived  John  W.  Knight.  He  was  an  infidel  tailor. 
He  was  a  man  of  really  fine  intellect,  but  was  reckless  in  life  as 
he  was  sceptical  in  his  religious  views.  The  preacher  became 
attached  to  him,  and  used  to  go  to  his  bench  to  talk  with  him. 
At  last  he  persuaded  Knight  to  go  to  the  church ;  he  did  so,  be- 
came convinced  of  the  truth  of  Christianity,  and  said,  if  not 
audibly  yet  sincerely,  "I  surrender,"  and  was  at  once  converted.* 
He  began  to  work  for  his  Master,  and  for  thirty  years  was  a  most 
useful  traveling  preacher. 

Wm.  J.  Parks  was  on  the  Macon  District,  and  found  his  work 


*His  own  words. 


222  History  of 

farther  away  from  home  than  before.  His  highest  hope  was 
to  see  his  family  a  few  days  six  times  during  the  year,  and  such 
was  his  industry  that  he  held  the  plough  while  he  was  at  home, 
till  he  often  left  blood-stains  on  it. 

Samuel  Anthony  was  for  the  second  year  on  the  Perry  Circuit. 
It  then  included  Houston,  Pulaski,  and  Dooly,  with  parts  of  Bibb 
and  Crawford.  During  the  summer  of  1834  a  mighty  awakening 
was  felt.  This  revival  influence  continued  during  the  year  1835. 
The  total  number  of  accessions,  white  and  colored,  was  1,336. 
This  was  in  addition  to  the  accessions  by  certificate,  which  must 
have  been  numerous.  There  was  a  manifestation  of  power  like 
to  that  in  the  early  days  of  the  century,  when  men  in  their  strength 
fell  senseless  under  the  weight  of  their  emotions.  Houston 
County  had  now  become  thickly  settled  with  a  fine  population, 
many  of  whom  were  South  Carolina  Methodists.  From  this  date 
Methodism  was  established  in  this  whole  country,  and  there  are 
now  three  prominent  stations  and  four  circuits  where  this  circuit 
was.  There  were  several  large  camp-meetings  on  the  circuit, 
and  they  were,  as  of  yore,  seasons  of  general  ingathering. 

Jno.  W.  Talley,  G.  F.  Pierce,  Wm.  Arnold,  Wm.  J.  Parks,  G. 
A.  Chappell,  Isaac  Boring,  Jno.  L.  Jerry,  and  Geo.  W.  Carter 
were  a  fine  corps  of  presiding  elders — some  of  them  young  and 
ardent,  some  of  them  old  and  experienced — all  of  them  gifted 
and  pious. 

No  one  who  has  not  carefully  studied  Methodism  in  her  for- 
mative state  can  realize  the  vast  importance  during  that  period  of 
an  able  presiding  eldership.  These  filled  the  double  office  of 
evangelists  and  bishops.  A  metropolitan  in  the  early  Church 
had  very  rarely  such  a  territory  under  his  survey,  and  many,  very 
many  Right  Reverends,  who  boast  loudly  of  apostolical  descent, 
have  not  nearly  the  number  of  communicants,  or  preachers  under 
their  supervision,  as  these  presiding  elders  in  Southern  Method- 
ism. 

George  F.  Pierce,  now  in  the  fifth  year  of  his  ministry,  was 
placed  on  the  Augusta  District.  It  was  a  compact  district  in 
the^  heart  of  Middle  Georgia,  and  included  a  part  of  the  State  in 
which  Methodism  had  been  longest  established.  In  1809,  his 
father,  then  the  youngest  man  in  the  office  in  America,  had 
travelled  a  part  of  the  same  district.  The  son  was  now  about 
the  age  his  father  was  at  the  time  he  was  invested  with  the  office. 
He  entered  upon  the  work  with  enthusiasm.  His  love  for  the 
planting  people  of  Georgia,  with  their  plain  and  unpretending 
ways,  had  always  been  ardent,  and  where  many  a  young  man  of 


REV.   EUSTACE   W.    SPEER. 


JUDGE  L.    Q.  C.  LAMAR. 


Georgia  Methodism.  225 

culture  and  refinement  would  fret  and  complain  at  hardships  and 
want  of  congenial  society,  this  young  preacher  found  only  delight. 
Travelling  his  district  in  a  buggy,  leaving  his  fair  young  wife  for 
weeks  at  a  time ;  from  one  quarterly  conference  to  another,  from 
one  camp-meeting  to  another,  he  went  to  work  with  all  his  strength 
and  ardor.  He  was  laboring  for  souls,  and  God  crowned  his 
labors  with  great  success.  While  young  Pierce  was  firing  the 
hearts  of  his  preachers,  and  inspiring  the  people  with  a  higher 
hope,  Isaac  Boring,  in  a  more  difficult  field,  was  laboring  with 
equal  ardor.  Boring  possessed  two  qualities  that  fitted  him  emi- 
nently well  to  the  field  in  which  he  worked.  One  was  very  strong 
common  sense,  and  the  other  was  invincible  pertinacity.  He 
knew  no  such  word  as  defeat,  and  he  dared  all  the  dangers  of  his 
really  perilous  work  with  a  fearless  heart.  Jno.  L.  Jerry,  in  Flor- 
ida, was  a  born  hero.  The  story  of  his  life,  if  fully  told,  would 
read  like  a  romance.  He  was  bravely  facing  the  angry  Seminole, 
and  the  no  less  deadly  malaria  that  exhaled  from  the  swamps.  Nor 
was  the  work  of  Geo.  A.  Chappel  much  less  difficult.  From 
Carroll  County  to  Fort  Gaines  he  was  forced  to  travel.  The  first 
settlement  of  the  country  is  always  followed  by  times  of  sickness 
amounting  almost  to  pestilence,  and  he  travelled  where  ague  and 
fever  raged  almost  universally.  Despite  the  fact  that  the  work 
was  so  well  done,  there  is  reported  a  decrease  of  1,398.  This 
result  may  be  attributed  to  the  greater  attention  to  church  records. 
They  were  at  the  first  very  carelessly  kept,  but  Dr.  Few  had  in- 
troduced a  resolution  at  the  conference  before,  that  the  preachers 
in  charge  should  be  required  to  keep  a  record  book,  and  when 
the  records  were  revised,  it  may  be  that  numbers  were  left  off, 
but  it  is  evident  that  the  revival  spirit  was  not  high.  The  year 
1836  was  one  of  those  which  are  known  as  flush.  Cotton  was 
high.  Speculation  was  wild.  Paper  promises  were  abundant. 
The  new  cotton  lands  of  Southwest  Georgia  were  then  most  pro- 
ductive. Railroads  were  being  projected,  and  all  things  seemed 
to  be  on  the  tide  to  success.  To  make  more  cotton,  to  buy  more 
negroes,  to  buy  more  land,  to  make  more  cotton,  and  so  on  in  a 
vicious  circle,  seemed  to  be  the  ruling  aim  of  the  planter.  The 
country  was  wild  in  its  pursuit  after  wealth,  but  God  was  provid- 
ing something  better  than  money — a  great  revival — and  to  pre- 
pare the  way  for  it  the  rod  of  a  terrible  chastisement  was  lifted, 
but  ere  it  fell  the  church  suffered  spiritually. 

The  second  conference  during  the  year  1836  was  held  in  Co- 
lumbus, December  7th.  There  was  no  Bishop  present  at  the 
beginning  of  the  conference,  and  Wm.  J.  Parks  was  selected  to 


226  History  of 

preside.  Bishop  Andrew  reached  the  conference  on  the  ioth  and 
took  his  seat.  Whiteford  Smith,  who  had  been  transferred  from 
the  South  Carolina  Conference  the  year  before,  was  the  secretary 
of  the  body.  It  was  an  interesting  session.  Columbus  had  now 
been  settled  a  little  over  ten  years.  It  had  grown  with  great  rapid- 
ity, and  was  already  a  thriving  city.  Dr.  Pierce  and  Samuel  K. 
Hodges  had  their  homes  in  it,  and  many  old  Putnam  and  Greene 
County  Methodists  had  removed  to  it.  It  had  been  noted  from 
the  beginning  for  its  liberal  views  and  generous  contributions,  but 
during  this  conference  it  did  an  act  of  unprecedented  generosity. 
Dr.  Pierce,  who  lived  in  Columbus,  asked  for  a  list  of  preachers 
in  active  work  who  were  deficient  in  quarterage.  The  report  was 
given  him;  the  amount  of  deficiency  was  $1,851.  In  a  day  or 
two  he  presented  to  the  conference  the  whole  amount,  which  had 
been  raised  by  the  citizens  of  Columbus.  It  was  a  noble  deed 
nobly  done.  For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  church  in 
Georgia  every  deficiency  in  salary  had  been  provided  for. 

There  were  twelve  admitted  on  trial.  William  D.  Bussey,  P. 
P.  Brooks,  Gaston  Farrar,  B.  F.  Wells,  E.  W.  Story,  Edwin 
White,  J.  J.  Taylor  were  connected  with  the  conference  but  a 
few  years,  while  Alfred  T.  Mann,  Walter  R.  Branham,  Alfred 
Dowman,  John  P.  Duncan,  Josiah  Lewis  did  long  and  efficient 
service.  W.  D.  Bussey  was  a  gifted  and  useful  traveling  preacher 
for  some  years.  Then  he  located  and  settled  in  the  thinly-peopled 
wiregrass  country;  then  returned  for  a  short  time  to  the  itiner- 
ancy, but  his  health  failed  and  he  gave  up  the  pastorate  and  died 
in  the  local  ranks. 

Josiah  Lewis  was  admitted  at  this  conference  this  year.  He 
was  a  sturdy  Welshman  by  descent,  of  good  education,  and  of 
superior  mind.  He  had  been  brought  up  in  the  country  and  was 
always  a  man  of  plain  ways.  He  was  remarkable  for  his  strong 
common  sense  and  his  piquancy  and  bluntness.  Fearless  and 
plain-spoken,  he  said  what  he  thought  ought  to  be  said,  without 
concern  as  to  how  it  would  be  received.  Once  while  he  was  pre- 
siding elder  on  the  Augusta  District,  seeing,  as  he  thought,  the 
negroes  neglected  by  their  masters,  he  determined  on  giving  some 
stern  rebukes  to  the  slave-owners.  He  was  fearfully  severe  in  his 
denunciation  of  their  course  in  withholding  from  the  negroes 
their  just  due  of  food  and  clothing.  A  negro  hearer,  enraptured 
by  a  tirade  so  in  accord  with  his  own  views,  burst  into  an  ill- 
timed  shout  of  "Glory."  "Shut  your  mouth,"  said  the  aroused 
preacher,  "you'll  be  stealing  your  master's  chickens  tomorrow 
night  if  you  get  a  chance." 


Georgia  Methodism.  227 

He  was  preaching  to  a  city  audience  on  Moses'  choice.  "Yes," 
he  said,  "Moses  might  have  drank  champagne,  driven  fast  horses, 
and  gone  to  balls  and  to  the  theater  and  had  a  great  time.  But," 
said  he,  raising  his  voice,  "Moses  was  a  man,  not  a  hog."  He 
was  a  faithful  worker  in  all  fields  until  he  was  stricken  by  paraly- 
sis, when  he  returned  to  his  humble  home  near  Sparta,  where  in 
perfect  peace  he  died. 

John  P.  Duncan,  who  joined  the  Conference,  was  born  in  Penn- 
sylvania ;  but  his  father  had  met  with  reverses  and  finally  moved 
to  North  Carolina.  Here  or  before  he  came,  young  Duncan  had 
been  converted.  He  was  very  emotional  and  sang  beautifully; 
and  in  connection  with  Dr.  John  E.  Edwards,  himself  a  country 
boy,  he  held  meetings  in  the  rural  homes  of  Guilford.  He  came 
to  Georgia  as  a  young  mechanic,  and  soon  after  decided  to  join 
the  Conference.  He  entered  it  in  1836,  and  died  in  it.  He 
was  one  of  the  most  earnest  and  energetic  of  evangelists.  He 
never  failed  to  have  an  awakening,  or,  as  the  old  preacher  called 
it  somewhat  irreverently,  "a  stir."  He  was  a  very  courtly  gen- 
tleman, of  bland  ways,  who  dressed  with  great  neatness  and  ab- 
jured the  conventional  uniform  of  the  early  preachers.  His  florid 
style,  his  gushing  emotion,  his  gentle  ways  made  him  very  popu- 
lar. He  was  a  great  favorite  and  co-worker  with  Bishop  Pierce, 
who  had  been  on  his  district  and  who  highly  valued  him.  He  was 
withal  an  excellent  man,  of  a  loving,  tender  nature,  and  did  much 
permanent  good.  He  lost  his  sight  from  cataracts  and  never  fully 
recovered  it ;  but  despite  his  blindness,  he  moved  among  his  old 
friends  and  still  did  faithful  work  for  the  Church.  He  died  very 
suddenly  after  a  life  of  great  activity  and  usefulness. 

W.  R.  Branham,  who  joined  the  Conference  the  same  year 
with  Duncan,  and  who  died  in  connection  with  it,  was  the  son 
of  Dr.  Henry  Branham,  of  Eatonton.  He  was  a  graduate  of  the 
State  University.  His  father  was  a  man  of  wealth  and  of  high 
social  position,  and  married  into  the  family  of  Josiah  Flournoy. 
He  was  the  prospective  heir  of  a  large  property,  and  the  itinerancy 
at  that  time  gave  little  promise  of  a  life  of  ease;  but  he  was  most 
decidedly  religious  and  entered  on  his  work  with  the  purest  mo- 
tives. He  was  a  man  of  wide  reading,  thoughtful,  sincere,  and 
tender,  and  was  greatly  beloved.  His  work  was  continuous,  and 
he  was  on  Districts,  Circuits  and  Stations,  and  gladly  welcomed 
everywhere.  He  lived  to  be  eighty  years  old,  and  for  some  years 
was  superannuated.  He  was  well  called  the  "St.  John  of  his 
Conference." 

Alfred  T.   Mann,  who  joined  the  Conference  this  year,  was 


228  History  ok 

in  all  respects  a  superior  man.  His  father  was  one  of  the  oldest 
and  worthiest  members  of  the  Methodist  Church  in  Augusta, 
and  his  mother  a  woman  of  great  saintliness.  He  was  a  bright, 
intellectual  young  fellow,  who  had  the  best  educational  advan- 
tages. He  went  to  Randolph  Macon,  while  Dr.  Olin  was  Presi- 
dent, and  was  converted  while  at  college  and  resolved  to  enter 
the  ministry.  He  joined  the  Conference  and  was  sent  on  a  very 
large  up-country  circuit — a  city  boy  of  prospective  wealth,  a 
college  graduate,  and  one  who  was  entirely  unacquainted  with 
the  rustic  ways  of  the  plain  people  among  whom  his  lot  was 
cast,  and  withal  bubbling  over  with  mischief,  he  found  it  some- 
what difficult  to  accommodate  himself  to  his  surroundings ;  but 
he  did  so,  and  soon  evinced  the  fact  that  he  had  sterling  and 
staying  qualities.  He  soon  rose  to  the  highest  place  among  his 
brethren,  and  held  it  to  the  last.  He  was  very  gifted  and  was 
always  heard  with  pleasure.  A  true  gentleman,  a  man  of  wide 
reading,  of  genial  manners,  and  of  genuine,  though  not  demon- 
strative piety,  he  was  one  of  the  most  valued  members  of  the 
Conference.  He  married  the  gifted  daughter  of  Dr.  Pierce,  who 
was  for  years  his  efficient  helpmate.  He  had  all  kinds  of  work; 
was  on  circuits,  districts,  and  stations,  and  always  did  his  work 
well. 

In  December,  1837,  there  were  admitted  to  trial  fifteen.  This 
class  is  remarkable  from  the  fact  that  onhy  one  of  the  members 
remained  in  the  Conference  many  years  or  died  in  it.  The  rest 
all  retired  to  the  local  ranks,  and  I  am  unable  to  give  an  account 
of  most  of  them.  Reuben  E.  Oslin,  one  of  the  class,  was  long 
a  local  preacher  in  Atlanta — a  steady-going,  faithful  man. 

Claiborn  Trussell,  long  known  as  "Uncle  Claib,"  was  to  do 
long,  faithful  and  hard  work  and  die  an  honored  and  beloved 
superannuated  preacher  in  his  humble  home  in  Carroll  County. 
He  was  not  gfted  or  cultured,  and  he  knew  it — but  he  was  a 
man  of  good  sense,  simple  utterance  and  profound  piety.  He 
went  where  he  was  bidden,  and  did  the  best  he  could.  Oftentimes 
the  work  was  hard  and  the  privations  great,  but  the  brave  man 
and  his  brave  wife  never  shrank.  His  life  was  a  benediction, 
and  his  death  a  triumph. 

This  year  was  one  of  gracious  revivals,  and  there  was  progress 
in  all  directions  as  Georgia  was  receiving  many  immigrants  from 
older  States. 

During  the  month  of  May,  the  Southern  Christian  Advocate 
began  its  career.  From  this  time  forth,  we  have  at  least  glimpses 
of  the  every-day  working  of  the  Church,  and  are  thus  able  to 


Georgia  Methodism.  229 


present  a  fuller  account  than  we  have  hitherto  had  niater id  for 
Willis  D    Matthews  writes  during  the  year  from  the  Green 
■iu  r  -ruit    1  a    there  had  been  evidences  of  deep  religious  in- 
^WtoSttS  at  length  resulted  in  a  gracious  sweep 
rTrevrval    and  which  began  in  this  interesting  and  remarkable 
waV    Some  httle  girls  ancl  a  young  lady  were  visiting  the  house 
oil' Methodist     The  father  and  mother  were  away     The  ch  Id 
nronosed    as  bed-time  came,  that  they  should  have  the  usual  de- 
?Xs     The  Bible  was  brought  out,  and  after  reading  a  chapter 
Ih    knelt  in  prayer.    The  young  lady  became  deeply -attend    a ud 
under  the  praver  of  the  child  was  converted.     Ihe  parents  re 
^ed     oon  aTterward  and   found  them  rejoicing.     A    mce tmg 
was  appointed  in  the  church  near  by,  and  the  fire  kindled  at  that 
7amify  al U    blazed  all  around  the  circuit.    Many  were  converted 
AltLu-h  in  1834  and  1835  there  had  been  such  a  wonderful 
wo^kt Cston    yet  during  this  year,  under  the  mmistry  of 
B.  Payne  and  Charles  L.  Hays   over  300  were  converted     On 
the  Watkinsville  Circuit,  under  the  charge  of  Jno.  W.  Glenn  and 
Walter  RBranham,  then  in  his  first  year,  there  was  a  gracious 
revival   and  on  the  Forsyth  Circuit,  Samuel  Anthony  in  charge, 

°^^^r^^ng  and  there  were  many^rd- 
ships  to  be  encountered.  Through  many  portions  of  Glenn  s 
work  there  were  only  Indian  trails  for  roads  and  the  dusky 
ravages  were  yet  in  the  new  country-but  he  was  well  suited  for 
iTworlT  brave  in  heart  and  strong  in  body  able  to  command 
and  To  control;  scorning  all  effeminacy,  and  cheering  his  preach- 
erbv  the  force  of  his  example,  no  man  could  have  done  the  dif- 
ficult work  better  than  himself.  He  had  fifteen  Poachers  and 
nearly  five  thousand  members  under  his  charge,  and  nearly  one- 
fourth  of  the  State  to  travel  over. 

During  this  year  that  portion  of  Georgia  which  lies  north  of 
the  Blue  Rid-e  was  divided  into  circuits,  and  supplied  with 
'read  ers  tm  the  Holston  Conference^  It  was  called  the  New- 
town District  and  D.  B.  Cumming  was  the  presiding  elder  There 
wis  the  Chattooga,  Spring  Place,  Newtown,  Ellijay,  Hiwassie, 
7a  leytown  CooStown  and  Oothcalooga  Missions.  They  were 
all  supplied  with  young  unordained  men,  the  only  elder  in  the 
district  being  E.  Still,  on  the  Elijay  Mission.  At  the  next  Con- 
ference 66s  members  were  reported  in  this  portion  of  the  work. 
Many  Cherokees  still  remained  in  this  section,  and  752  were  re- 
ported in  the  Cherokee  Mission  in  Upper  Georgia,  Upper  Ala- 
bama and  East  Tennessee. 


230  History  of 

For  the  history  of  the  mission  work  among  the  Cherokees  in 
Georgia,  the  reader  is  referred  to  a  succeeding  chapter. 

The  work  among  both  whites  and  Indians  in  the  Cherokee 
country,  under  charge  of  D.  B.  dimming,  includes  Chattooga, 
which  reports  296  members;  Elijay  with  126,  and  Blairsville  with 
161 ;  Valleytown,  Coontown  and  Oothcalooga  with  570  Indians. 
This  work  called  for  great  heroism,  and  we  have  the  before-told 
story  of  the  hardships  of  the  hardest  frontier  which  awaited 
these  devoted  men ;  but  a  glorious  success  attended  their  efforts. 
The  Spring  Place  Circuit  included  the  counties  of  Murray,  Gor- 
don, and  Whitfield;  the  Elijay,  the  large  counties  of  Gilmer  and 
Fannin,  and  a  part  of  now  Lumpkin;  the  Blairsville,  Union  and 
Rabun,  and  a  part  of  now  Lumpkin  contiguous  to  these  counties. 
Spring  Place  at  this  time  was  the  centre  of  a  very  thrifty  country. 
Few  sections  of  Georgia  have  been  so  soon  peopled  by  a  class  of 
enterprising  settlers  as  the  rich  valleys  of  Murray  and  Gordon, 
and  few  people  have  been  of  ruder  manners  than  many  of  them. 
As  yet  the  railroad  had  not  been  built,  and  this  valley  was  the 
centre  of  influence,  and  noted  for  its  wild,  reckless  wickedness. 
Here  Vann,  the  Indian  chief,  had  his  elegant  residence ;  here  the 
Moravian  Mission  had  been  established,  and  here  was  the  seat 
of  those  parties  who  waged  an  internecine  war  in  Upper  Geor- 
gia. The  preacher  in  charge  reported  190  white  members,  and 
only  five  colored. 

The  district  of  John  W.  Glenn  adjoined  this  Holston  District. 
The  total  amount  collected  for  the  conference  in  this  entire  dis- 
trict was  a  little  over  seventy  dollars.  This  is  an  indication  of 
what  the  preacher  and  presiding  elder  received.  There  were  only 
two  missions  in  the  district,  and  the  preachers  were  dependent 
upon  quarterage  alone.  As  an  illustration  of  what  each  one  was 
paid,  we  find  that  Josiah  Lewis  received  fifty-five  dollars  from 
the  conference  fund,  not  having  secured  $200  all  told  on  his 
work.  Nor  was  this  meagre  pay  alone  given  to  this  district,  but 
it  was  thus  over  the  whole  conference.  There  were  as  yet  very 
few  parsonages  in  the  State,  there  were  twenty-five  who  had 
homes  of  their  own,  in  a  conference  of  perhaps  not  more  than 
fifty  married  men  in  active  work.  The  difficulty  of  making  ap- 
pointments was  greatly  increased  by  this  state  of  things,  and 
oftentimes  appointments  which  were  considered  very  afflicting 
resulted  only  from  the  fact  that  the  preacher  could  not  move 
his  family. 

At  this  conference  James  E.  Evans  was  transferred  to  South 
Carolina,  and  James  Sewell  came  to  Savannah.    Of  James  Sewell, 


Georgia  Methodism.  231 

who  was  a  remarkable  man,  we  have  given  a  sketch  in  another 
chapter. 

James  B.  Payne  was  sent  to  LaGrange  Circuit.  Methodism 
had  been  in  fertile  soil  in  this  new  section  of  the  State;  and, 
though  the  LaGrange  Circuit  had  set  apart  the  Harris  and  Green- 
ville Circuit,  yet  in  the  county  of  Troup  alone  there  were  528 
members,  but  during  this  year  there  was  a  most  remarkable  and 
memorable  revival  in  LaGrange  and  the  county  around  it.  From 
his  entrance  into  the  ministry,  James  B.  Payne  had  been  won- 
derfully successful  in  winning  souls.  He  found  much  apathy 
in  religion  in  the  town  of  LaGrange,  and,  although  there  were 
many  valuable  members  of  the  Church  there,  there  was  much 
open  wickedness.  He  told  his  brethren,  one  Sabbath,  that  his 
time  was  so  limited  that  he  could  not  visit  them  all  at  their  homes, 
but  wished  to  meet  the  members  at  the  church  the  next  morning 
at  nine  o'clock.  When  the  morning  came,  a  few  were  there. 
While  they  were  engaged  in  Christian  conversation  a  lady,  not 
a  member  of  the  Church,  became  deeply  affected.  With  this 
the  work  begun,  and  night  services  were  appointed.  The  young 
men  of  the  community  had  enterprised  a  ball,  and  although  the 
meeting  was  going  on,  the  ball  was  not  postponed.  The  church 
was  lighted,  and  so  was  the  ball-room.  The  ball  went  on,  so 
did  the  meeting.  The  managers  of  the  ball  were  conscious  of 
having  done  wrong,  and  the  next  morning  the  leader  of  them 
proposed  that  they  should  go  to  the  prayer-meeting.  They  did 
so.  Several  of  them  became  penitent.  They  were  nearly  all 
converted,  and  the  managers  of  that  ball  became  the  leading 
members  of  the  church  in  LaGrange.  At  the  camp  meeting  that 
year  120  were  converted.  There  was  a  total  accession  to  the 
Church  on  the  circuit  of  over  500  members. 

There  was  a  race-track  near  the  town,  and  a  great  lover  of 
the  turf  had  invested  largely  in  it. 

In  the  revival,  the  leading  patrons  of  the  track  were  converted, 
and  a  race  and  a  ball  was  an  impossibility.  The  racer  had  a  fine 
horse,  and  as  a  retaliation  he  named  him  Jimmy  Payne,  and  so 
the  race-track  became  familiar  with  the  name  of  him  who  had 
been  mainly  the  instrument  of  making  at  least  one  track  useless. 

The  Baptists  and  Presbyterians  joined  heartily  in  the  meeting, 
and  all  the  churches  were  greatly  blessed.  The  next  year  La- 
Grange became,  in  connection  with  West  Point,  a  station,  a  place 
each  has  separately  held  to  the  present  time. 

Whiteford  Smith,  who  had  spent  one  year  in  Augusta,  was 
sent  this  year  to  Athens.     The  membership  there  was  one  hun- 


232  History  of 

dred  and  one,  and  among  them  were  some  most  excellent  people. 
During  the  year  there  was  a  gracious  revival,  of  which  we  have 
given  account  elsewhere.     The  total  increase  in  the  State  was 

3>°9l- 

The  Conference  met  in  the  village  of  Eatonton,  December  n, 
1838,  Bishop  Andrew  presiding.  There  was  great  interest  in 
the  two  colleges,  the  Wesleyan  in  Macon,  and  Emory. 

The  Relief  Society,  afterwards  the  Preachers'  Aid  Society,  was 
incorporated.  Missions  were  attracting  much  attention,  and  the 
preachers  were  instructed  to  preach  on  the  subject. 

The  class  received  was  a  remarkable  one  in  some  respects.  They 
were :  James  B.  Jackson,  Andrew  J.  Deavour,  James  J.  Winn, 
Thomas  L.  Rawls,  John  Richards,  Robert  J.  Cowart,  James 
Scaife,  Thomas  C.  Coleman,  Gadwell  J.  Pearce,  E.  B.  W.  Spivey, 
William  Mills,  W.  D.  Martin,  Nathaniel  H.  Harris,  John  W. 
Knight,  Anderson  Peeler,  Thomas  W.  Cooper,  and  Augustus  B. 
Longstreet.  While  many  of  this  class  soon  dropped  out  of  the 
traveling  connection,  there  were  seven  who  remained  as  itinerants 
until  their  deaths.  Winn,  Rawls,  Richards,  Scaife,  Spivey,  Mills, 
Harris,  Cooper,  traveled  only  a  short  time.  William  D.  Martin, 
who  located,  was  a  useful  local  preacher  in  Meriwether  County. 
Cowart  located,  studied  law  and  became  a  great  politician  and 
left  the  church,  and  Anderson  and  Peeler  went  to  Florida. 

G.  J.  Pearce,  as  he  is  written  in  the  published  minutes,  was  Gad- 
well  Jefferson  Pearce.  He  had  sprung  from  the  same  family  from 
which  Bishop  Pierce  had  sprung,  and  had  many  of  the  traits  be- 
longing to  that  gifted  race,  although  he  never  knew  or  claimed  any 
kinship.  He  was  a  wild,  reckless  youth  when  he  was  converted. 
He  entered  the  ministry  and  was  remarkably  successful  as  an 
evangelist.  He  was  selected  as  agent  for  the  American  Bible  So- 
ciety, and  was  one  of  their  most  efficient  officers,  when  he  was 
prostrated  with  a  severe  and  long  continued  attack  of  rheumatism. 
He  was  agent  of  the  LaGrange  Female  College  and  then  its  presi- 
dent ;  and  then  as  Sunday  School  agent  was  a  most  successful  re- 
vivalist. His  last  work  was  in  the  pastorate.  He  was  a  man  of 
marked  individuality.  Fearless,  chivalric,  manly,  he  was  greatly 
prized  by  those  who  knew  him  best.  Few  men  have  made  a 
stronger  impress  on  men  than  he  did.  His  health  finally  gave 
away,  and  he  retired  to  his  home  in  Decatur,  where  he  died. 

James  B.  Jackson  was  admitted  on  trial  at  this  time.  He  had 
been  a  very  poor  boy,  who  worked  as  a  day  laborer,  and  although 
quite  a  youth,  could  not  read.  He  was  employed  by  a  good  Pres- 
byterian to  pick  cotton  for  him.    The  children  of  the  family  took 


Georgia  Methodism.  233 

great  interest  in  him,  and  taught  him  to  read.  One  of  the  daugh- 
ters gave  him  a  New  Testament,  and  that  was  his  first,  and  then 
his  only  book.  He  spelled  his  way  through  it,  and  its  influence 
and  their  counsels  brought  him  to  Christ.  He  now  applied  him- 
self to  study,  and  improved  rapidly.  He  began  to  teach,  then  was 
licensed  to  preach  and  entered  the  conference.  He  soon  rose  to 
high  place.  He  was  on  all  kinds  of  work — circuits,  stations,  and 
districts — and  always  did  his  work  well. 

His  mind  was  very  philosophical  in  cast,  and  he  was  a  fine  meta- 
physician, and  perhaps  too  fond  of  speculation.  He  was  trans- 
ferred to  Florida  to  meet  a  demand  in  that  conference,  after  he 
had  been  nearly  thirty  years  in  active  work  in  Georgia.  There 
was  promise  of  much  work  before  him,  when  in  a  railroad  acci- 
dent he  was  so  injured  as  to  soon  die,  but  not  before  he  left  his 
testimony  to  the  precious  consolation  of  the  truths  he  had 
preached. 

Augustus  B.  Longstreet,  of  whom  we  have  spoken  before,  was 
admitted  into  the  travelling  connection  at  this  conference.  He 
had  filled  the  highest  places  in  the  State  to  which  he  had  aspired, 
and  there  was  no  position  which  he  might  not  have  reached  if  he 
had  sought  it,  but  he  came  in  the  maturity  of  his  manhood's 
ripest  powers  and  presented  himself  as  an  applicant  for  admission 
to  the  conference,  and  for  his  quadrennium  of  study.  Although 
he  was  a  graduate  of  Yale,  and  had  been  on  the  judicial  bench, 
yet  he  went  through  his  regular  examination  at  every  conference, 
not  only  on  the  deep  subjects  of  theology,  but  on  English  gram- 
mar and  geography.  The  only  adverse  report  against  him  was 
that  he  tripped  in  his  examination  on  English  grammar.  He  was 
this  year  appointed  to  Augusta,  but  the  next  was  called  to  the 
presidency  of  Emory  College  as  the  successor  of  Dr.  Few.  Of 
his  career  here  our  chapter  of  the  college  gives  account.  After 
some  years  in  Georgia  he  was  called  to  the  presidency  of  Cen- 
tenary College,  in  Louisiana,  and  then  to  that  of  the  University  of 
Mississippi.  His  family  consisted  of  only  a  wife  and  two  daugh- 
ters, the  eldest,  Fannie,  the  wife  of  Dr.  Henry  Branham ;  and  the 
second,  Virginia,  the  wife  of  the  Hon.  L.  Q.  C.  Lamar.  They  all 
removed  with  him  to  Mississippi.  The  burdens  of  his  office  be- 
came too  heavy  for  him,  and  he  resigned  it,  expecting  to  spend 
his  old  age  in  peaceful  retirement,  but  he  was  called  from  that 
by  an  invitation  to  take  the  presidency  of  the  South  Carolina  Col- 
lege. It  was,  perhaps,  the  only  call  which  could  have  drawn  him 
from  his  quiet  home:  but  early  association  with  Calhoun,  his 
friendship  for  McDuffie,  his  taste  for  Carolina  politics,  and  the 


234  History  of 

general  features  of  the  old  Carolina  society,  than  which  none  could 
have  been  more  delightful,  overcame  his  reluctance  and  he  went  to 
Columbia.  The  war  found  him  again  in  Mississippi.  When  it 
ended  he  was  in  body  feeble,  yet  still  mentally  strong,  and  com- 
forting himself,  as  he  contemplated  the  wreck  of  all  things  about 
him,  with  the  precious  consolations  of  Christ.  At  last  his  dear 
wife,  who  had  been  his  life-long  strength  and  joy,  passed  from 
him;  and  he  soon  followed. 

John  W.  Knight  was  one  of  this  class.  He  had  drifted  into  the 
interior  of  the  State,  where  he  was  employed  at  his  trade  as  a 
tailor.  He  was  a  pronounced  infidel.  He  had  read  Paine's  "Age 
of  Reason,"  and  had  accepted  its  statements  as  true.  He  would 
not  admit  the  truth  of  the  Bible  nor  even  swear  upon  it.  He  had 
been  a  drunkard,  but  he  had  now  ceased  to  drink  to  excess,  and 
behaved  himself  with  great  propriety.  The  village  tailor  shop  was 
in  those  days  a  favorite  place  for  social  gatherings,  and  Knight 
was  a  pleasant  companion.  Among  those  who  visited  his  shop 
frequently  was  the  village  pastor,  James  B.  Payne,  and  one  of  his 
leading  members,  a  wealthy  planter.  Colonel  Flewellen.  Payne 
did  his  best  to  turn  the  erring  tailor  into  the  right  path,  and  so  did 
Flewellen.  Knight  increased  Flewellen's  fondness  for  him  by 
quieting  what  threatened  to  be  a  serious  riot.  Flewellen  was  taken 
very  ill  and  sent  word  to  Knight  that  he  wished  to  see  him.  Knight 
refused  to  go.  Flewellen  grew  worse,  and  sent  to  him,  saying: 
"Tell  Jack  Knight  I  died  praying  that  he  might  meet  me  in 
Heaven."  They  were  holding  a  meeting  in  Clinton.  Knight  came 
into  the  place  where  the  meeting  was  held.  He  sat  moodily  for  a 
little  while ;  then  rising  from  his  seat  he  walked  rapidly  forward 
to  where  the  preacher  was,  and  stretched  out  his  hand,  saying: 
"Parson,  I  surrender."  He  was  at  once  converted ;  was  soon 
licensed  to  preach;  entered  the  conference,  and  died  in  it.  He 
was  one  of  the  most  useful,  guileless,  gifted  men  who  was  ever  in 
connection  with  it.  He  was  the  Christian  of  Bunyan  who  had 
fearful  conflicts  and  glorious  victories.  He  had  little  worldly  wis- 
dom and  was  never  easy  in  his  circumstances.  His  health  was 
frail,  and  at  last  it  failed  him,  and  after  a  life  of  noble  heroism 
he  passed  away. 

Andrew  Jackson  Deavours  was  admitted  at  this  conference  and 
began  a  life  of  great  usefulness.  He  had  but  moderate  talent  and 
but  little  cultivation.  Unlike  Knight,  he  was  a  child  of  the  forest 
— he  never  had  an  appointment  in  his  life  that  paid  him  $500.  He 
was  a  simple-hearted,  sincere,  devoted  man,  who  was  ready  to  go 
anywhere  and  bear  any  load  if  he  might  do  something  for  his 


Georgia  Methodism.  235 

Master.  He  was  greatly  beloved  by  his  brethren  and  was  highly 
valued  for  his  simple  faith  and  thorough  consecration,  and  his  end 
was  serene  and  beautiful. 

On  the  nth  of  December,  1839,  the  Conference  met  in  Augusta. 
Bishop  Morris  was  again  president. 

Elijah  Day,  W.  T.  Magruder,  George  W.  Farrabee,  Jesse  W. 
Carroll,  Richard  Lane,  James  S.  Lane,  John  M.  Milner,  Elijah  Y. 
Hunnicutt,  Robert  A.  Johnson,  Sidney  M.  Smith,  Nathaniel  G. 
Slaughter,  Thomas  J.  Fears,  Dolphin  Davies,  Charles  W.  Evans, 
R.  H.  Howren,  Levi  Goodman,  L.  G.  R.  Wiggins,  Alexander 
Means,  J.  J.  McCarty,  Anthony  C.  Bruner,  William  W.  Griffin, 
and  W.  M.  Crumley  were  admitted.  Of  these  there  were  only  a 
few  who  rendered  long  and  efficient  service.  Richard  Lane,  de- 
scendant of  an  old  and  distinguished  North  Carolina  family,  a 
man  of  good  education,  of  good  property,  and  of  sound,  solid  in- 
tellect, began  a  career  as  a  travelling  preacher,  which  only  ended 
when  he  died,  a  member  of  the  East  Texas  Conference. 

Alexander  Means  was  the  son  of  a  Scotch-Irishman  in  North 
Carolina.  He  received  a  good  academic  education,  and  after 
teaching  for  some  time,  studied  medicine  and  entered  upon  its 
practice  in  Covington.  He  was  a  local  preacher,  and  was  remark- 
able for  his  unusual  power  as  an  orator.  He  was  selected  as 
Superintendent  of  Manual  Labor  School;  then  made  a  professor 
in  Emory  College,  and  a  professor  at  the  same  time  in  the  Georgia 
Medical  College  in  Augusta.  He  joined  the  conference  in  1839, 
and  died  in  connection  with  it.  He  was  an  enthusiastic  scientist, 
and  especially  devoted  to  the  study  of  electricity.  He  was  far 
beyond  his  day  in  his  ideas  of  what  was  to  be  the  future  of  that 
wonderful  power  of  God.  Much  that  has  been  accomplished  by 
electricity  was  predicted  by  him,  when  those  who  heard  him 
thought  him  a  wild  dreamer.  He  was  a  most  earnest  and  devoted 
Christian,  and  a  very  popular  and  useful  preacher.  He  did  much 
valuable  work  for  the  Church,  and  was  widely  and  favorably 
known  in  all  parts  of  the  Church.  He  reached  an  advanced  age, 
and  died  at  his  home  in  Oxford,  and  was  buried  there. 

W.  M.  Crumley,  who  was  admitted  at  this  conference,  was  a 
poor  and  ignorant,  but  wonderfully  gifted  and  deeply  pious  young 
man,  from  the  mountains  of  Habersham.  His  mother  was  a 
woman  of  very  great  energy  and  force  of  character,  but  his  father 
was  inert  and  thriftless.  He  was  a  child  of  deepest  nature,  and 
was  converted  when  a  boy,  under  the  ministry  of  the  saintly  Rob- 
ert A.  Steele.  He  learned  to  read  and  write  after  a  fashion,  and 
uncultivated  as  he  was,  determined  to  enter  the  conference.     He 


236  History  of 

had  married  a  lovely  mountain  girl  before  he  was  of  age,  who  be- 
longed to  a  Scotch  family  of  more  than  usual  property  for  that 
section.  He  was  so  uncultured  that  the  conference  rejected  his 
application ;  but  he  applied  again,  and  was  received,  and  sent  from 
Habersham  County  to  Florida.  It  was  during  the  Indian  war,  and 
everything  was  in  confusion.  But  he  did  not  hesitate  taking  his 
wife  with  him,  and  leaving  their  baby  girl  behind  them,  he  made 
his  way  in  his  little  wagon  from  Habersham  for  four  hundred 
miles  to  Madison,  Florida.  He  had  to  travel  through  the  almost 
trackless  forests  of  pine  woods  to  find  as  best  he  could  a  temporary 
home  in  the  cabin  of  some  adventurous  stock-raiser,  or,  in  the 
hummock  country,  to  find  shelter  with  some  planter,  whom  neither 
exile  from  society  nor  the  dread  of  Indians  could  force  from  his 
rich  cotton  fields.  To  bear  all  this  exposure,  and,  worse  than  this, 
to  have  a  gentle,  loving  wife  to  submit  to  it,  was  the  introduction 
of  this  young  and  timid  itinerant  to  his  work.  He  had  left  his 
only  child,  a  little  girl,  with  her  grandmother  in  Habersham,  and 
brought  only  his  young  wife  with  him.  The  tender  parents  were 
very  anxious  about  their  child.  He  had  one  dollar  left  when  he 
reached  Florida.  He  found  a  family  almost  starving.  The  hus- 
band had  been  killed  by  the  Indians,  and  the  widow  and  children 
were  without  bread.    He  gave  them  his  last  cent. 

In  Madison  he  went  to  the  postoffice  and  found  a  letter  from  his 
kins-people  concerning  tidings  from  his  child — but  alas!  the  post- 
age. It  was  twenty-five  cents,  and  he  did  not  have  a  farthing. 
Sadly  he  returned  the  letter  to  the  postmaster,  and  went  to  prayer- 
meeting.  After  it  was  over,  the  owner  of  the  solitary  candle  took 
it  up,  and  found  in  the  candlestick  a  five-dollar  note.  As  no  one 
claimed  it,  he  gave  it  to  the  preacher. 

The  work  on  which  young  Crumley  was,  had  to  be  marked  out. 
The  Indians  still  lurked  in  the  swamps,  and  often,  as  he  tracked 
his  way  through  the  forests,  he  would  see  where  the  bullet  of  an 
Indian  had  spilled  the  blood  of  a  foe.  Once  he  found  that  the 
family  with  which  he  had  hoped  to  spend  the  night  had  fled  to 
the  block  house  six  miles  away,  and  it  was  already  dark.  At  the 
great  hazard  of  being  shot  by  the  Indians,  or  mistaken  in  the 
dark  by  the  whites  as  an  Indian  and  shot  by  them,  he  reached 
the  fort  and  succeeded  in  making  himself  known.  He  passed, 
however,  through  the  year  without  any  injury,  and  returned  to 
his  mountain  home  again.  He  served  hard  circuits  and  missions, 
and  became  noted  for  the  wonderful  fervency  of  his  piety  and 
the  remarkable  success  of  his  work  and  his  native  eloquence.  He 
was  steadily  in  public  notice ;  was  sent  to  the  largest  cities ;  and 


Georgia  Methodism.  237 

while  in  Savannah  was  blessed  with  one  of  the  most  famous  re- 
vivals ever  known  in  that  city.  The  yellow  fever  came  the  next 
year,  and  he  bravely  stood  at  his  post.  His  colleague  died.  He 
was  stricken  and  came  near  death,  but  recovered.  He  never  had 
an  unfruitful  year.  He  was  greatly  loved  and  highly  honored; 
and  at  sixty  was  stricken  with  a  stroke  of  apoplexy,  and  for 
several  years  was  an  invalid.  He  died  in  peace.  His  son,  How- 
ard, is  a  member  of  the  North  Georgia  Conference. 

The  land  had  been  well  prepared  and  the  seed  well  sown.  The 
laborers  were  toiling  for  a  richer  harvest,  and  the  next  decade 
will  show  still  greater  advancement. 

The  next  conference  met  in  Macon,  January  20,  1841,  Bishop 
Andrew  presiding. 

Twenty-five  were  admitted  on  trial ;  among  them  was  Andrew 
Neese,  who  died  in  1856,  after  sixteen  years  of  hard  and  valua- 
ble work.  He  was  a  man  of  devoted  piety,  consecrated  to  his 
ministry ;  acceptable  and  useful,  wherever  he  went ;  plain,  pointed 
and  scriptural  in  his  preaching ;  gentle  and  affable  in  his  manners. 
He  was  stricken  with  apoplexy,  and  had  only  one  interval  of 
consciousness;  while  it  continued  he  repeated  almost  the  whole 
of  the  21st  of  Revelation. 

George  Bright,  an  earnest,  gifted  young  man,  was  another  of 
the  class.  He  died  of  yellow  fever  in  Key  West,  in  1874;  had 
travelled  for  nearly  thirty-four  years.  George  Bright  was  a 
striking  character.  He  was  possessed  of  many  more  than  ordi- 
nary gifts.  He  was  a  born  controversalist.  Other  men  may 
combat  what  they  believe  to  be  error,  because  they  are  forced 
into  the  field;  but  he  delighted  in  the  fray.  He  was  for  many 
years  on  those  charges  where  he  met  the  most  repulsive  forms  of 
Calvinism  in  their  practical  influence,  and  when  church  exclusive- 
ness  was  the  boldest  in  its  claims,  and  he  had  made  himself  a 
master  of  the  question  at  issue,  and  was  ready  to  defend  Ar- 
minius  or  attack  Calvin  at  any  moment,  and  he  did  the  work  with 
a  zest.  He  was  necessarily  a  combatant,  and  fought  without 
malice;  but  those  who  did  not  know  him  well  attributed  to  bad 
temper  what  was  really  due  to  conscientious  conviction.  His 
health  failed  him  in  the  regular  work,  and  he  entered  the  school- 
room. 

He  went  from  Georgia  to  Missouri,  but  here  his  health  failed 
him  again,  and  after  a  few  years  beyond  the  Mississippi,  he  re- 
turned to  Georgia,  was  transferred  to  the  Florida  Conference, 
was  sent  to  Key  West.     Here  he  died  in  peace.     George  Bright 


238  History  of 

was  as  gnarled  and  knotty  as  a  live  oak,  but  like  a  live  oak,  he 
had  a  great,  sound  heart. 

Win.  J.  Sassnett  was  another  admitted  on  trial.  He  was  the 
grandson  of  Philip  Turner,  one  of  the  first  Methodists  in  Sparta, 
and  the  youngest  son  of  his  daughter,  Rhoda  Sassnett.  He  re- 
turned from  college  at  Midway,  and  began  to  study  law  with 
Judge  Sayre.  He  was  in  the  Church,  but  was  not  a  Christian. 
A  severe  attack  of  sickness  that  fall  brought  him  to  Christ,  and 
he  promised  God  that  if  He  spared  his  life,  he  would  preach  the 
Gospel.  He  sent  for  Dr.  Pendleton,  his  attending  physician,  and 
told  him  what  he  felt  to  be  his  duty.  When  his  family  learned 
his  purpose,  he  met  with  very  fierce  opposition  from  them,  and 
his  father  firmly  refused  to  assist  his  gifted  boy  in  his  mad 
course. 

Hardy  C.  Culver,  one  of  nature's  noblemen,  offered  him  a 
horse  and  money  to  start  with.  When,  however,  the  father  saw 
his  son's  determination,  he  relented,  and  consented  that  he  should 
do  as  he  wished.  Ten  years  afterwards  the  father  was  con- 
verted, and  died  in  the  faith  of  the  Gospel.*  The  determined 
and  consecrated  young  man  presented  himself  as  an  applicant 
for  admission  into  the  conference,  and  was  admitted.  After  one 
appointment  in  Georgia,  he  was  transferred  to  Alabama.  He 
was  highly  gifted,  and  the  prospect  of  greatest  usefulness  spread 
out  before  him,  when  he  was  attacked  by  acute  rheumatism,  and 
after  the  disease  left  him  his  handsome  and  manly  form  was  bent 
almost  double.  He  did  not,  however,  complain  nor  despond,  but 
entered  the  hall  of  the  college  professor.  He  was  professor  at 
Oxford,  president  of  the  LaGrange  Female  College,  and  then 
president  of  the  East  Alabama  University,  at  Auburn.  The  war 
closed  this  institution,  and  he  returned  to  his  farm  in  Hancock 
County,  Georgia.  Here  he  remained  until  1865,  when,  in  the 
vigor  of  his  life  and  the  zenith  of  his  fame,  he  died  in  the  faith. 
He  was  delirious  a  part  of  the  time  of  his  sickness,  and  as  his 
delirium  passed  away,  he  said:  "Have  I  said  anything  in  my 
delirium  a  Christian  minister  ought  not  to  have  said?"  They 
told  him  no.     He  answered :  "Thank  God." 

The  American  continent  has  produced  few  men  who  had  more 
mind  that.  Wm.  J.  Sassnett.  He  was  a  broad,  bold  thinker ;  he 
wrote  with  great  readiness,  and  wrote  much  ;  he  preached  with 
great  power  and  eloquence.  His  brethren  of  the  Alabama  Con- 
ference say  of  him:  "Though  enfeebled  in  body  by  disease,  he 
was,  nevertheless,  a  great  worker.     He  never  shrank  from  re- 

*Dr.  Pendleton. 


Georgia  Methodism.  239 

sponsibility  nor  avoided  labor.  As  a  preacher  his  gifts  were  far 
above  ordinary.  Kind  in  heart,  genial  in  manner,  he  was  the 
joy  of  his  friends,  and  the  comfort  of  all  about  him.  Truly  a 
great  man  in  Israel  has  fallen." 

Dr.  Sassnett  was  not  only  a  fine  preacher,  but  he  was  an  author 
of  no  mean  ability.  One  of  those  men,  however,  whose  bold 
opinions  and  whose  elaborate  discussions  attract  only  a  small 
circle  of  thinking  men  to  him.  There  is  no  page  in  his  published 
works  but  which  is  filled  with  striking  thoughts.  He  wrote,  it 
may  be,  too  rapidly,  and  his  thought  speculations  were  not,  per- 
haps, always  profitable,  but  he  was  by  nature  a  philosopher,  and 
his  mind  very  speculative,  and  he  thought  broadly,  spoke  bravely, 
on  all  subjects  of  public  interest.  His  views  on  common  school 
education,  on  slavery,  on  progress  in  the  church,  and  on  political 
questions  were  decided,  and  his  defence  of  them  a  very  strong 
one.  As  far  as  we  can  see,  he  died  too  early,  but  God  knows 
best. 

At  this  session  Edward  H.  Myers  began  his  life-work.  He 
was  born  in  New  York  and  at  this  time  was  twenty-five  years 
old.  His  mother  was  a  saintly  woman  and  he  became  in  early 
life  a  Christian.  He  was  so  gifted  that  it  was  determined  by 
those  who  knew  him  that  he  should  be  highly  educated,  and  he 
was  graduated  at  Randolph  Macon  College.  On  returning  from 
college  he  taught  school  a  few  years,  and  then  in  the  brightness 
of  his  young  manhood  entered  the  conference.  He  soon  gained 
high  place  both  as  a  preacher  and  as  a  writer.  When  the  Wes- 
leyan  Female  College  was  reorganized,  he  was  invited  to  a  pro- 
fessorship in  it,  and  afterwards  to  its  presidency,  and  went  thence 
to  Charleston  to  edit  the  Southern  Christian  Advocate.  He  re- 
mained an  editor  for  seventeen  years,  and  was  then  made  presi- 
dent of  the  Wesleyan  Female  College  for  a  second  time.  He 
was  always  fond  of  the  work  of  preaching  and  anxious  to  return 
to  the  pastoral  field.  He  resigned  his  place  in  Macon  and  was 
appointed  to  Trinity  Church  in  Savannah.  He  entered  upon  his 
labors  with  great  zeal  and  prosecuted  them  with  ability.  When 
the  important  commission  to  settle  questions  between  the  two 
great  branches  of  Methodism  in  America  was  selected,  he  was 
appointed  one  of  the  commissioners.  After  the  happy  result  of 
it,  he  was  abiding  for  a  while  in  the  North,  when  the  fearful 
news  readied  him  that  Savannah  was  visited  again  by  the  terrible 
yellow  fever.  To  return  was  almost  certain  death,  but  he  did  not 
hesitate.  He  hurried  home,  he  threw  himself  into  the  midst  of 
the  pestilence,  he  was  taken  with  the  fever,  in  a  few  hours  it  was 


240  History  of 

announced  to  him  that  he  must  die ;  he  calmly  said  he  was  ready 
and  had  been  for  a  long  time,  and  shortly  afterward  calmly  and 
peacefully  died.    He  died  on  the  26th  of  September,  1876. 

Of  the  intellect  and  Christian  character  of  Dr.  Myers  it  is 
difficult  to  speak  too  highly.  He  was  an  accurate  scholar,  a  man 
who  thought  much  and  wrote  elegantly ;  as  a  preacher  he  had  few 
equals.  He  despised  all  kinds  of  pretence  and  always  knew  well 
what  he  claimed  to  know  at  all.  He  was  a  man  of  the  sternest  in- 
tegrity; strictly  truthful  in  act  or  word,  brave  enough  for  any 
deed ;  he  was  one  of  those  upon  whom  all  knew  when  to  rely. 
Conscious  of  his  own  sincerity  of  purpose,  despising  all  duplicity, 
he  never  sought  to  curry  favor,  but  rather  scorned  it.  Those  who 
knew  him  best,  honored  him  most.  Many  knew  of  the  might  of 
his  intellect,  but  only  his  friends  knew  how  gentle  and  tender  was 
his  heart.  His  escutcheon  was  without  a  blot.  From  early  boy- 
hood to  the  day  he  died  a  martyr  to  duty,  he  had  gone  bravely 
and  unswervingly  on. 

His  death,  to  all  Methodism,  was  a  common  grief.  His  son. 
Dr.  Herbert  P.  Myers,  is  now  of  the  South  Georgia  Conference 
(1912)  ;  and  one  of  his  granddaughters  is  amissionary  to  Korea. 

Seaborn  J.  Childs,  who  entered  the  Conference,  was  one  of 
those  sturdy,  faithful,  laborious  men  who  have  done  the  Church 
such  service  on  the  hard  fields  then  so  common.  He  was  for 
the  large  part,  indeed  all  his  life,  on  the  frontier,  and  never  had 
what  was  called  "a  good  appointment"  in  his  ministerial  life  of 
over  fifty  years ;  but  he  did  his  work  as  best  he  could,  and  did 
much  for  the  struggling  church. 

Young  F.  Tigner  sprang  from  one  of  the  best  Methodist  fami- 
lies in  Middle  Georgia ;  had  good  mind,  fair  culture,  and  an  ex- 
cellent character. 

Walter  Knox  was  a  man  of  remarkable  parts.  Tall,  awkward, 
unimpassioned — few  that  heard  him  for  the  first  time  reckoned 
him  at  his  true  worth.  He  was  a  man  of  very  broad  reading,  of 
very  strong  common  sense,  and  of  the  highest  integrity.  He  had 
the  unbounded  confidence  and  love  of  his  brethren,  and  occupied 
positions  of  great  responsibility. 

The  Georgia  Conference  in  1841  entered  upon  the  second  de- 
cade of  her  history.  Although  her  contributions  were  by  no 
means  liberal,  they  were  much  beyond  what  they  had  been.  She 
collected  through  her  preachers  that  year  $2,599,  f°r  superan- 
nuated preachers,  their  widows  and  orphans.  The  centenary 
collection  bad  been  very  liberal.  The  colleges  and  manual  labor 
school  had  sprung  into  being,  and  the  subscription  to  them  had 


BISHOP  GEORGE  F.  PIERCE. 


REV.    W.    J.    COTTER 
On   Eighty-Fifth   Birthday. 


Georgia  Methodism.  243 

amounted  to  over  $100,000.  The  social  features  of  the  State 
had  undergone  but  little  change,  but  that  was  for  the  better.  A 
great  financial  crisis  had  come,  and  still  its  effect  was  felt  all 
over  the  State,  but  yet  the  Church  had  prospered.  Most  of  the 
very  large  circuits  of  the  periods  before  had  given  way,  and  the 
circuits  were  now  comparatively  small,  though  still  much  too 
large  for  effective  working.  A  large  number  of  the  leading  men 
of  the  Church  in  1830  were  no  longer  present.  Andrew  was 
a  Bishop;  Howard,  Pope,  Bellah,  Chappell,  Darley,  Winn  and 
Pournell  were  dead.  Warwick,  Sneed  and  Turner  were  super- 
annuated. Jesse  Boring,  after  years  of  usefulness,  had  broken 
down,  and  was  forced  to  take  light  work;  but  new,  enterpris- 
ing and  gifted  men  were  in  their  places.  Lovick  Pierce, 
Thomas  Sam  ford,  William  Arnold  and  Samuel  K.  Hodges,  of 
the  old  line,  remained  in  the  field,  but  Talley,  Parks,  Glenn, 
George  F.  Pierce,  Payne,  Anthony,  Key,  Lewis,  Mann,  were 
now  among  the  leading  working  men  in  the  conference — while 
John  W.  Yarbrough,  G.  J.  Pearce,  P.  P.  Smith,  Jno.  C.  Simmons 
and  M.  H.  White,  younger  men,  were  doing  the  hard  frontier 
work  that  was  demanded  by  the  new  country  which  had  been 
occupied.  Up  to  this  time,  Georgia  had  never  been  without  a 
frontier,  and  the  Georgia  Conference  had  held  no  session  with- 
out appointing  some  of  its  members  to  the  wilderness,  and  the 
opening  of  the  Creek  and  Cherokee  lands  in  Georgia,  and  of  the 
whole  of  Florida,  to  settlement,  had  called  for  an  unusual  amount 
of  this  work.  Forests  were  being  cut  down,  new  villages  being 
built,  and  the  times  demanded  energy  and  enterprise.  It  has 
been  the  glory  of  Methodism  that  her  sons  have  never  shrunk 
from  the  hardships  of  a  new  country,  and  that  she  has  always 
been  among  the  first  in  the  newly  opened  land.  It  is  this  which 
has  given  her  so  strong  a  hold  on  the  affections  of  the  people. 
She  did  not  wait  for  civilization  to  prepare  the  way  for  the 
Church,  but  the  Church,  going  first,  secured  the  blessings  of 
refined  life  to  the  people. 

The  work  was  still  hard.  The  circuits  had  not  as  yet  provided 
for  the  comfort  of  the  preachers  by  providing  parsonages.  Many 
of  the  married  had  homes,  and  some  of  them  were  necessarily 
remote  from  their  work,  and  while  the  size  of  the  circuit  was 
reduced,  the  number  of  new  appointments  called  for  as  much 
service  from  the  preachers.  Augusta,  Savannah,  Milledgeville, 
Athens,  Columbus,  Macon,  Washington,  were  the  only  stations. 
LaGrange  and  West  Point  a  station  together,  and  the  rest  of 
the  State  was  provided  with  only  circuit  preaching.     While  there 


244  History  of 

was  growth  in  the  country,  in  the  towns  the  advance  was  not 
rapid.  The  older  towns  of  the  State  had  been  much  depleted  to 
supply  the  newer.  Greensboro  had  almost  emptied  itself  into 
the  lap  of  Columbus  and  LaGrange,  and  Eatonton  and  Clinton 
into  Macon,  and  so  with  the  older  counties.  The  camp-meetings 
were  still  in  vigorous  existence,  though  the  protracted  meetings 
in  many  of  the  country  churches  rendered  them  less  a  necessity. 
The  people  were  better  educated,  and  so  were  the  preachers. 
Mercer  University,  Franklin  College,  and  Emory,  were  well  pat- 
ronized, and  there  were  high  schools  over  the  whole  State. 

The  Conference  met  in  Milledgeville,  Ga.,  January  6,  1842, 
Bishop  Waugh  presiding.  There  were  eleven  admitted  on  trial. 
These  were  John  H.  Robinson,  Andrew  J.  Reynolds,  James  B. 
Tackson,  Benjamin  W.  Clark,  Reuben  H.  Luckey,  Leroy  G.  Les- 
ley, R.  R.  Rushing,  W.  H.  Evans,  John  W.  Mills,  Sampson  J. 
Turner,  William  J.  Seale.  This  class  of  eleven,  however,  was 
like  many  which  preceded  it.  The  large  number  of  preachers 
retired  after  a  short  trial  of  the  itinerancy,  to  local  ranks.  There 
were  very  few  parsonages ;  few  charges  gave  a  support  to  their 
pastor,  and  sheer  necessity  drove  many  of  those  who  had  families 
to  retire  from  the  itinerancy  and  make  a  support  for  their  fami- 
lies by  secular  labor.  They  generally  secured  farms  and  settled 
down.  They  did  not,  however,  lose  their  interest  in  the  work, 
but  did  most  efficient  service  as  local  preachers.  Among  those 
who  were  admitted  was  the  afterwards  distinguished  Dr.  Daniel 
Curry.  He  had  come  South  to  take  a  professorship  in  a  college, 
and  deciding  on  the  pastorate,  he  entered  the  Conference.  He 
was  sent  to  the  best  appointments,  and  was  in  Columbus  in  1844, 
when  the  troubles  between  the  North  and  the  South  began  to  be 
so  serious.  He  naturally  took  the  side  of  his  section,  and  in  1844 
returned  to  the  North,  where  he  was  soon  recognized  as  a  leader 
and  rose  to  the  highest  places  in  the  gift  of  the  Church.  He  was 
a  stern  foe  of  the  Southern  Church  who  made  no  concealment 
of  his  strong  dislike,  and  made  no  concessions  or  compromises  ; 
but  all  who  knew  him  recognized  him  as  a  man  of  the  most  vigor- 
ous intellect  and  the  sternest  integrity. 

Simon  Peter  Richardson  came  up  from  the  pine  woods  of  Tal- 
bot to  begin  a  ministerial  life  which  extended  over  half  a  century. 
He  sprung  from  a  very  old  and  prominent  Virginia  family,  some 
branches  of  which  were  in  South  Carolina.  Here  his  father  mar- 
ried a  Lutheran  lady  of  fine  character  and  of  genuine  piety.  He 
was  by  nature  highly  endowed,  and  drifted  into  the  Methodist 
Church,  which  was  the  only  church  on  the  frontier  in  which  he 


Georgia  Methodism.  245 

lived.  He  began  his  ministry  when  he  was  just  of  age,  and  on 
a  hard  circuit  in  Florida.  He  was  very  studious,  very  original, 
and  very  pious,  and  was  successful  from  the  very  start.  He  spent 
most  of  his  early  ministry  in  the  Florida  Conference,  which  then 
embraced  all  of  Southern  Georgia.  He  was  greatly  admired  by 
the  people  for  the  raciness  and  strong  sense  which  characterized 
his  preaching,  as  well  as  for  the  wonderful  power  which  attended 
his  work.  He  was  untiring  in  toil  and  remarkably  wise  in  his 
measures,  and  it  may  be  safely  said  he  made  an  impress  on  South- 
ern Georgia  and  Florida  greater  than  that  of  any  other  man  of 
his  day.  He  was  a  very  deep  thinker  and  entertained  some  views 
to  which  his  brethren  demurred ;  but  all  recognized  him  as  a  true 
man,  of  remarkable  gifts  and  genuine  heroism. 

The  Georgia  Conference  had  now,  in  1841,  passed  her  first 
decade.  There  had  been  constant  progress.  Her  preachers  were 
in  every  part  of  the  State.     Every  county  had  a  camp  meeting. 

W.  H.  Evans  was  admitted  on  trial  this  year.  He  was  born 
in  Wilkes  County  in  1814,  was  the  son  of  a  Methodist  preacher, 
and  the  younger  brother  of  James  E.  Evans,  who  had  been  for 
over  ten  years  in  the  conference.  He  had  been  a  preacher  for 
nine  years  before  he  entered  the  work.  He  did  effective  work  for 
thirty  years,  and  then  was  called  away.  He  had  gathered  his 
friends  around  him  at  the  commencement  at  Oxford,  when  he 
was  suddenly  stricken  by  apoplexy,  and  painlessly  expired.  Wra. 
H.  Evans  was  one  of  the  most  useful  men  the  Georgia  Confer- 
ence ever  received  into  its  membership,  and  one  of  the  best-be- 
loved. He  had  travelled  over  a  large  part  of  Upper  Georgia  on 
hard  circuits,  and  on  hard  stations  and  hard  districts,  and  his 
work  was  always  well  done.  Souls  were  converted  and  the 
Church  was  built  up  wherever  he  went.  He  was  not  a  brilliant 
man,  but  he  was  a  remarkably  sensible  one,  and  withal  a  man  of 
fine  information  and  of  broad  and  liberal  views.  He  impressed 
all  men  with  a  sense  of  his  deep  and  earnest  piety,  and  a  re- 
markable success  always  attended  his  labors.  He  had  the  confi- 
dence of  his  brethren  as  few  men  had  it,  and  his  death  was  uni- 
versally regretted.  Sampson  J.  Turner,  who  afterwards  appears 
under  the  name  Jackson  P.  Turner,  was  admitted  on  trial  this 
year.  He  was  only  eighteen  years  of  age.  He  had  a  strong  mind, 
almost  entirely  uncultivated,  when  he  began  his  work,  but  which 
he  most  diligently  improved  by  hard  study.  He  became  a  good 
English  scholar,  and  had  a  fair  knowledge  of  the  elements  of 
Latin  and  Greek.  He  was  a  good  thinker  and  a  bold  writer.  He 
did  not  hesitate  to  attack  the  views  of  any  man,  however  great 


246  History  of 

his  age  or  elevated  his  place.  He  soon  rose  to  high  position,  and 
when  only  thirty-one  years  old  was  called  from  earth. 

In  the  Florida  District,  on  which  Peyton  P.  Smith  was  pre- 
siding elder,  there  were  three  circuits  in  Georgia:  Thomasville, 
Bainbridge,  and  Troupville.  We  have  already  spoken  of  the 
Troupville  Circuit,  which  covered  a  territory  now  equal  to  a  dis- 
trict, embracing  in  its  boundary  Clinch,  Lowndes,  Echols,  a  part 
of  Berrien,  and  all  of  Brooks  Counties.  Decatur  and  Thomas 
Counties  were  served  from  Florida,  and  were  respectively  in  the 
Monticello  and  Gadsden  Circuits.  During  this  year  they  were 
made  into  separate  circuits.  A  church  had  been  built  in  Thomas- 
ville during  the  year  1840.  The  county  of  Thomas  was  laid  out 
in  1825,  and  Thomasville  was  settled  in  1826.  It  was  very  re- 
mote from  the  Atlantic  coast,  and  did  its  business  through  the 
port  of  St.  Mark,  in  Florida.  It  had  some  very  fine  country  tribu- 
tary to  it,  but  these  lands  were  mostly  taken  up  by  large  planters, 
and  cultivated  by  large  bodies  of  slaves.  The  poorer  lands  were 
settled  by  poor  people,  mostly  stockraisers.  Thomasville.  though 
the  chief  town  in  all  the  country,  was  a  small  town,  and  as  late 
as  1 85 1  had  a  population,  according  to  White,*  of  only  500.  The 
church  was  an  exceedingly  plain  building,  and  after  Thomasville 
had  grown  to  be  a  place  of  considerable  size,  and  was  a  station 
of  some  importance,  it  was  still  the  only  Methodist  house  of 
worship.  It  was  finally  replaced  by  a  neat  and  attractive  church 
building.  The  first  year  it  was  separated  from  the  Monticello 
Circuit  it  was  left  to  be  supplied.  During  this  year  James 
Woodie  was  in  charge  of  it. 

The  Conference  of  1842-3  met  in  Savannah  on  January  18th. 
Bishop  Andrew  was  to  preside,  but  he  did  not  reach  the  Confer- 
ence in  time  to  open  the  session,  and  William  J.  Parks  was  chosen 
to  preside. 

Silas  Griffin,  of  Oglethorpe  County,  had  donated  $4,096  to  the 
Conference,  which  was  added  to  the  vested  funds  of  the  Aid 
Society,  and  William  J.  Parks  was  made  special  agent  of  the 
Conference  to  see  after  its  unsettled  business  in  several  parts  of 
the  State.  Thomas  Grant  had  left  a  legacy,  not  only  of  money, 
but  of  lands.  These  lands  were  known  as  "wild  lands"  and  de- 
manded attention.  John  McVean  had  made  a  bequest  to  the 
Conference.  William  McGee  had  made  a  bequest,  and  Silas  Grif- 
fin had  made  the  Church  his  residuary  legatee.  There  were  now 
two  benevolent  societies  chartered  to  care  for  these  funds.  The 
fund  of  Special  Relief  and  the  Preachers'  Aid  Society. 

*  White's  Statistics. 


Georgia  Methodism.  247 

E.  T.  L.  Blake,  J.  Penny,  I.  U.  Miner,  W.  E.  Adams,  G.  Mc- 
Donald, Jacob  R.  Danforth,  J.  Harris,  N.  B.  Fleming,  G.  A.  Mal- 
let, Silas  H.  Cooper,  J.  B.  Wardlaw,  R.  A.  Griffin,  and  J.  T. 
Smith  were  received  on  trial. 

E.  T.  L.  Blake  became  a  very  prominent  minister  in  Florida 
and  spent  his  life  there.  So  did  J.  Penny.  J.  B.  Wardlaw  was 
for  a  long  time  a  member  of  the  Conference,  much  of  it  as  a 
supernumerary.  Jos.  T.  Smith  was  a  plain,  uncultured  man, 
who  died  in  connection  with  the  Conference.  J.  R.  Danforth 
was  a  gifted,  pious  man,  who  retired  from  the  Conference  after 
a  few  years  and  became  a  teacher  and  a  faithful  local  preacher. 
None  of  the  remaining  members  of  this  class  remained  any  length 
of  time  in  the  Conference. 

The  Conference  met  in  Columbus,  January  27,  1844.  The 
preachers  admitted  on  trial  were :  David  Blalock,  John  M.  Mil- 
ner,  William  A.  Florence,  Alexander  Graham,  W.  H.  Crawford, 
E.  Lucas,  Vardy  H.  Shelton,  Francis  A.  Johnson,  William  Foster, 
David  L.  White,  Charles  Jewett,  Daniel  Kelsey,  Robert  W.  Big- 
ham,  Richard  Menefee.  Of  these,  Milner,  Crawford,  Lucas,  Shel- 
ton, Johnson,  Menefee  soon  were  lost  from  the  Conference. 

Alexander  Graham,  after  some  years  in  Florida,  went  to  Cali- 
fornia, and  returning  East  joined  the  M.  E.  Church  and  died  in 
connection  with  it. 

David  Blalock  was  a  useful  circuit  preacher  until  his  superan- 
nuation and  his  death. 

William  A.  Florence  was  a  man  of  real  parts.  He  was  a  forci- 
ble and  earnest  preacher — a  man  of  striking  peculiarities,  but  a 
man  in  whom  his  brethren  had  the  utmost  confidence.  He  was 
very  portly,  but  despite  the  difficulty  of  locomotion,  continued 
in  his  work  for  many  years.  Daniel  Kelsey  was  a  Northern  man, 
fastidiously  neat  in  his  apparel,  correct  in  manners  and  speech. 
Careful  in  attention  to  all  the  details  of  his  work,  he  was  long  a 
valued  member  of  the  Conference. 

Charles  R.  Jewett  was  a  graduate  of  Emory  College.  He  was 
the  son  of  a  devotedly  pious  man;  was  genuinely  converted; 
entered  the  traveling  connection,  and  whether  a  preacher  in 
charge  of  circuits,  or  on  stations,  or  on  districts,  he  always  did 
successful  work. 

Robert  W.  Bigham  came,  a  beardless  boy,  into  the  Conference, 
and  died  in  connection  with  the  Conference  over  fifty  years  after- 
ward. He  went  to  California  a  missionary;  spent  several  years 
among  the  miners ;  returned  to  Georgia,  and  remained  in  con- 
nection with  the  North  and  South  Georgia  Conferences  as  an 


248  History  of 

effective  preacher  on  stations  or  districts,  until  he  had  passed 
beyond  his  seventieth  year.  He  was  a  man  of  most  amiable  tem- 
per, greatly  beloved  by  his  brethren  in  the  ministry  and  the  people 
he  served.  He  wrote  a  number  of  books  which  were  quite  popu- 
lar, especially  his  little  story,  "Vinnie  Leal's  Trip  to  the  Golden 
Shore."  He  wrote  much  for  the  Advocates,  and  his  writings  were 
always  well  received.  After  fifty  years'  service  he  was  superan- 
nuated, and  quietly  passed  away  soon  afterward. 

The  General  Conference  was  to  meet  in  New  York  in  May, 
and  George  F.  Pierce,  William  J.  Parks,  Lovick  Pierce,  Jno.  W. 
Glenn,  James  E.  Evans  and  A.  B.  Longstreet  were  elected  dele- 
gates. 

The  abolition  and  anti-slavery  excitement  had  been  of  in- 
creasing intensity.  The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  had  early 
expressed  its  disapproval  of  slavery,  and  had  as  clearly  expressed 
its  opposition  to  abolitionism.  In  consequence  of  this  position, 
taken  so  decidedly  by  the  General  Conference,  Orange  Scott 
and  the  extreme  abolition  wing  in  New  England,  after  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  of  1836,  had  seceded  and  formed  the  Wesleyan 
Methodist  Church.  The  anti-slavery  and  abolition  feeling,  how- 
ever, had  grown  rapidly  in  the  West  and  in  New  England.  Pe- 
culiar circumstances  were  now  to  bring  the  matter  before  the 
General  Conference  in  a  very  trying  shape.  The  Baltimore  Con- 
ference sent  up  an  appeal  case  which  would  necessarily  open  the 
question,  and  Bishop  Andrew  was  the  innocent  cause  of  increased 
excitement  and  agitation.  His  gentle  Amelia  died,  and  his  sec- 
ond wife,  an  exceedingly  lovely  Christian  woman,  who  had  been 
a  Mrs.  Greenwood,  of  Greensboro,  was  a  slaveholder.  Bishop 
Andrew  became  by  virtue  of  his  marriage  the  nominal  owner  of 
her  property. 

Years  before  this  a  friend  of  his  had  bequeathed  to  his  care 
a  negro  girl  who,  after  her  majority,  was  to  take  her  choice 
between  remaining  as  his  slave,  or  going  a  free  woman  to  Liberia ; 
she  preferred  to  remain  in  Georgia,  and  she  became  nominally 
his  property.  Bishop  Andrew  did  not  believe  that  slaveholding 
in  the  South  was  sinful ;  but,  nevertheless,  he  had  not  acquired 
this  property  by  purchase  or  regular  inheritance.  He  was  now 
denounced  as  a  slaveholder,  and  the  extremists  of  the  Church 
were  in  great  distress  at  having  a  slaveholding  Bishop.  Before 
the  conference  met  trouble  was  expected,  but  the  hope  which 
the  events  of  years  before  had  justified,  still  filled  the  hearts  of 
the  Southern  members.  The  agitation  soon  commenced,  and  the 
debate  was  opened  on  the  third  day  of  the  session  on  a  memorial 


Georgia  Methodism.  249 

from  the  Providence  Conference.     Dr.  Capers  began  the  discus- 
sion by  moving  that  the  motion  to  refer  should  lie  on  the  table. 
The  memorial  seems  to  have  been  very  offensive  to  the  South 
in  its  utterances,  but  yet  it  was  referred  to  a  committee.    On  the 
sixth  day,  Dr.  W.  A.  Smith,  of  Virginia,  opened  the  question 
again  by  an  earnest  and  somewhat  violent  speech,  a  part  of  which 
was  levelled  against  the  conservatives  of  whom  he  spoke  in  no 
gentle  terms.     He  wanted  the  Conference  to  say  plainly  what 
it  meant.     If  slaveholding  was  a  sin  in  the  eyes  of  the  Church, 
he  wanted  the  Conference  to  say  so,  or  to  let  the  question  alone. 
The  champions  of  each  side  were  now   fairly  arrayed,  but  the 
grand  question  was  to  be  discussed  in  the  appeal  of  Francis  A. 
Harding,  of  the  Baltimore  Conference.    By  marriage,  this  brother 
had  become  possessed  of  a  family  of  negroes,  which  he  was  un- 
able to  emancipate.     He  was  suspended  by  a  vote  of  his  Confer- 
ence, and  he  now  appealed.    Dr.  W.  A.  Smith  appeared  for  him, 
the  Rev.  John  A.  Collins  against  him.     They  were  both  able  in 
debate,  and  the  feeling  of  each  side  was  most  intense.     Harding's 
case  was  the  more  important  from  these  facts :     First,  that  the 
slaves  were  his  wife's,  not  his  own;  second,  he  could  not  emanci- 
pate them  in  Maryland;  third,  that  he  offered  if  they  wished 
it  to  send  them  to  Africa.     Yet  while  all  this  was  not  denied  he 
had  been  suspended.     The  debate  of  the  subject  was  very  full 
and  very  able.     Dr.  Smith  was  a  grand  man  on  the  forum,  and 
his  opponent  had  the  reputation  of  being  the  most  eloquent  man 
in  his  conference.     There  was,  however,  no  comparison  between 
them  in  reasoning  power.    Smith  was  a  giant  beside  his  opponent. 
Though  the  speeches  of  Dr.  Smith  were  of  the  most  conclusive 
character,  and  though  few  who  read  the  account  of  the  trial  now 
will  agree  that  Harding  was  suspended  in  accordance  with  dis- 
ciplinary rights ;  yet  so  intense  was  the  feeling  that,  by  a  strict 
party  vote,  the  appeal  was  not  sustained.     The  true  reason  for 
this  was  behind.    Another  case  involving  the  same  questions  was 
to  come  before  the  Conference.     This  case  had  been  prejudged. 
The  victim  was  doomed  before  his  trial,  but  the  whole   South 
through  him  was  the  object  of  attack.     Never  was  there  a  deeper 
feeling  of  anxiety  in  the  General   Conference.     The   Southern 
members  had  already  a  clear  indication  of  the  sentiment  of  the 
conference.     Olin,  Durbin,  Bangs,  and  others  from  the  North, 
who  were  reluctant  to  see  the  Church  torn  apart,   saw  plainly 
what  must  result  when  the  great  question  of  the  conference  came 
up.     Bishop  Capers  moved  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of 
pacification.     The  speeches  on  this  motion  were  very  affecting. 


250  History  of 

Dr.  Olin's  especially.  Each  party  deprecated  division.  The 
North  did  not  want  division,  it  wanted  slavery  condemned.  The 
South  did  not  want  division,  it  wanted  only  the  old  position  held. 
Other  questions  came  up,  and  were  settled,  and  on  the  20th  of  May 
John  A.  Collins,  of  the  Baltimore  Conference,  who  had  been  the 
stern  prosecutor  of  Francis  Harding,  introduced  the  following 
resolution  which  brought  at  last  the  main  question  before  the 
conference. 

"Whereas  it  is  currently  reported  and  generally  understood  that 
one  of  the  Bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  be- 
come connected  with  slavery,  and  whereas  it  is  due  to  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  to  have  a  proper  understanding  of  the  matter; 
therefore — 

Resolved,  that  the  Committee  on  the  Episcopacy  be  instructed 
to  ascertain  the  facts  of  the  case,  and  report  the  result  of  their 
investigations  to  this  body  tomorrow  morning." 

The  subject  was  now  before  them. 

To  many  and  to  most  of  the  conference  the  whole  question 
was  already  seen  to  be  settled;  no  man  of  the  South,  however 
sanguine,  could  for  a  moment  suppose  that  the  rights  of  Bishop 
Andrew,  or  of  the  South,  or  the  laws  of  the  Church,  could  with- 
stand the  current  which  was  sweeping  upon  them.  The  church 
had  a  slave-holding  Bishop.  The  General  Conference  was  deter- 
mined that  no  slave-holder  should  occupy  the  Episcopal  chair; 
and  before  a  word  was  spoken  the  case  was  settled.  Our  pur- 
pose is  to  present  the  part  that  Georgia  took  in  this  discussion, 
and  not  to  give  a  full  history  of  the  debate,  which  may  be  found 
in  Redford's  History,  and  in  the  General  Conference  journals 
published  by  the  Northern  Publishing  House. 

On  the  22d  of  May,  Alfred  Griffith,  an  old  member  of  the 
Baltimore  Conference,  introduced  a  resolution  requesting  Bishop 
Andrew  to  resign.  This  he  supported  by  an  earnest  speech.  He 
was  followed  by  P.  P.  Sanford;  neither  claimed  that  Bishop  An- 
drew had  violated  any  law  of  the  Church,  but  the  Northern  mem- 
ber held  that,  by  his  own  act,  he  had  rendered  himself  unaccept- 
able to  a  part  of  the  Church  and  therefore  he  should  retire. 
Dr.  Winans  followed  in  an  exceedingly  able  and  impressive 
speech,  vindicating  Bishop  Andrew,  showing  that  the  North  and 
West  had  determined  when  Bishop  Andrew  was  elected,  in  1832, 
to  elect  a  slave-holder  as  Bishop,  and  attacking  the  doctrine  of 
expediency,  as  it  was  then  presented.  Dr.  Lovick  Pierce  followed 
a  Mr.  Bowen,  who  made  a  short  reply  to  Dr.  Winans. 


Georgia  Methodism.  251 

Dr.  P.  spoke  of  his  long  service  in  the  General  Conference,  of 
his  unwillingness  to  make  speeches  generally,  and  said  that  he 
would  remain  silent  now,  but  for  fear  lest  the  Conference  should 
think  he  was  less  decided  than  his  younger  and  more  ardent 
brethren.  This  was  not  the  case.  The  Conference  had  no  right 
to  make  the  request  they  proposed  to  make  of  Bishop  Andrew. 
For  him  to  yield  to  this  request  was  to  yield  a  principle  vital  to 
the  unity  of  the  Church.  The  doctrine  of  expediency  had  been 
appealed  to;  the  doctor  said  upon  it:  "Do  that  which  is  m- 
exoedient  for  us,  because  it  is  expedient  for  you?  never,  while 
the'  heavens  are  above  the  earth,  let  that  be  recorded  on  the  jour- 
nals of  the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
Do  you  ask  how  the  matter  is  to  be  met?  It  is  to  be  met  by  the 
conservation  of  principle  and  regard  to  the  compromise  laws  of 
the  Book  of  Discipline.  Show  your  people  that  Bishop  Andrew 
has  violated  any  one  of  the  established  rules,  and  regulations  of 
this  church,  and  that  he  refused  to  conform  himself  to  those 
established  laws,  and  usages,  and  you  put  yourselves  in  the  right, 
and  us  in  the  wrong." 

Dr.  Pierce  then  told  them  that  he  was  the  oldest  active  minister 
in  his  conference,  and  that  no  subject  had  ever  done  so  much 
harm  to  the  Church  as  this  meddling  with  slavery,  with  which  as 
a  church  we  had  nothing  to  do;  and  eloquently  and  earnestly 
warned  the  conference  against  the  fearful  results  which  would 
follow  to  the  Church  if  they  adopted  this  proposal. 

The  debate  took  a  wide  range  and  was  very  exciting,  Dr.  Bangs 
distinctly  stating,  that  Dr.  Capers  had  been  offered  the  nomina- 
tion by  the  Baltimore  delegation  if  he  would  emancipate  his 
slaves,  and  Dr.  Capers  denying  positively  the  fact.  Explanations 
followed  from  John  Davis,  the  author  of  the  statement,  and  Dr. 
Capers  that  cleared  the  point  up. 

Mr.  Finley  now  introduced  the  famous  substitute,  which  read 
thus : 

Whereas  the  discipline  of  our  church  forbids  the  doing  any- 
thing calculated  to  destroy  our  itinerant  general  superintendency, 
and  whereas  Bishop  Andrew  has  become  connected  with  slavery 
by  marriage,  and  otherwise;  and  this  act  having  drawn  after  it 
circumstances  which  in  the  estimation  of  the  General  Conference 
will  greatly  embarrass  the  exercise  of  his  office  as  an  itinerant 
general  superintendent  if  not  in  some  places  entirely  prevent  it, 
therefore — 

Resolved:    That  in  the  sense  of  this  General  Conference  that 


052  History  of 

he  desist  from  the  exercise  of  his  office,  so  long  as  this  impedi- 
ment remains. 

J.  B.  Finley. 

Jno.  Trimble. 

After  a  short  speech  from  the  author  of  the  substitute,  the 
first  advocate  of  the  substitute  arose.     This  was  Stephen  Olin. 

His  Southern  friends  knew  what  he  intended  to  do.  He  had 
told  Bishop  Andrew  the  course  he  should  take,  and  his  reasons 
for  it,  and  told  Dr.  Pierce,  weeping  as  he  did,  the  absolute  neces- 
sity for  the  salvation  of  the  Northern  Church  that  they  should 
take  this  course.  He  knew  what  would  be  the  consequence  of 
the  mildest  course  the  temper  of  the  conference  would  allow  it 
to  take.  He  knew  Bishop  Andrew  was  a  doomed  Bishop,  before 
a  delegate  had  gone  to  New  York.  That,  law  or  no  law,  he 
was  to  be  sacrificed,  but  should  he  take  part  in  the  slaughter? 
Against  this  the  noble  soul  of  Stephen  Olin  revolted  from  its 
deepest  depths;  but  was  it  not  necessary  to  save  the  northern 
wing  of  the  Church  from  disintegration?     He  thought  so. 

He  said  that  his  health  was  so  feeble,  he  felt  he  must  speak 
early,  or  not  at  all,  he  spoke  of  the  tender  relationships  which 
hemmed  him  in.  He  preferred  the  substitute  to  the  original. 
He  did  not  believe  the  discipline  of  the  Church  forbade  a  slave- 
holding  Bishop. 

He  did  not  believe  usage  forbade  it.  He  did  not  wish  to  in- 
sinuate that  Bishop  Andrew  was  not  a  most  desirable  man  for 
the  episcopacy.  He  looked  upon  this  question  as  not  a  legal,  but 
a  great  practical  one.  He  had  hoped  the  session  would  be  a 
harmonious  one,  and  it  was  not  till  he  reached  the  Conference 
that  he  became  aware  of  the  real  and  sad  state  of  the  case.  The 
calamity  had  come  without  warning,  we  must  do  the  best  we 
could.  He  was  not  willing  to  trench  upon  any  rights  of  his 
Southern  brethren.  He  was  once  a  slave-holder.  He  did  not 
believe  in  abolition.     He  did  not  wish  to  be  so  considered. 

He  believed  that  James  O.  Andrew  was  pre-eminently  fitted 
to  be  a  Bishop.  He  said  "I  know  him  well;  he  was  the  friend 
of  my  youth,  and  although  by  his  experience  and  his  position 
fitted  to  be  a  father,  yet  he  made  me  his  brother,  and  no  man 
has  more  fully  shared  my  sympathies,  nor  more  intimately  known 
my  heart  for  these  twenty  years  than  he  has.  His  house  has  been 
my  home.  On  his  bed  have  I  lain  in  sickness,  and  he  with  his 
sainted  wife,  now  in  Heaven,  have  been  my  comforter  and  nurse. 
No  question  under  heaven  could  have  presented  itself  so  painfully 


Georgia  Methodism.  253 

oppressive  to  my  feelings  as  the  one  now  before  us.  If  I  had 
a  hundred  votes,  and  Bishop  Andrew  were  not  pressed  by  the 
difficulties  which  now  rest  upon  him,  he  is  the  man  to  whom  1 
would  give  them  all."  He  paid  a  high  tribute  to  the  devotion 
of  Bishop  Andrew  to  the  negro  race.  He  spoke  of  the  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  passing  the  resolution,  and  yet  inflicting  no  censure, 
and  expressing  his  opinion  that  a  Bishop  was  the  officer  of  the 
General  Conference  who  might  be  removed  without  censure.  He 
knew  the  difficulties  in  the  South,  but  if  the  worst  came  to  the 
worst,  and  they  went  off,  they  would  go  in  a  compact  body ;  not 
so  in  the  North;  there  would  be  distraction  and  divisions,  ruinous 
to  souls,  and  fatal  to  the  permanent  interests  of  the  Church.  He 
would  deplore  the  separation  of  his  Southern  brethren  from  the 
Church,  but  if  they  should  go,  he  should  yet  regard  them  with 
the  feelings  of  a  warm,  kind  Christian  heart.  He  deprecated 
abolition  and  the  agitation  of  the  subject,  but  protested  against 
allying  the  anti-slavery  conferences  with  the  abolitionists,  and 
declared  that  it  was  no  fault  of  theirs  that  they  were  thus  pressed. 

This  speech  excited  much  surprise  in  the  South,  and  among  Dr. 
Olin's  Southern  friends  there  were  mingled  feelings  of  amaze- 
ment, grief,  and  indignation.  From  many  there  was  only  bitter 
scorn  for  the  man  whom  they  believed  had  so  temporized,  but 
from  those  who  knew  him  best  there  was  only  a  deep  sympathy 
at  the  difficulties  surrounding  him.  Georgia  has  never  been  able 
to  give  Olin  up.  He  was  not  like  some  others,  mere  sojourners 
for  a  night  in  the  State,  brought  here  by  accident,  and  remaining 
for  convenience,  but  one  of  her,  an  inmate  of  her  homes,  the 
husband  of  one  of  her  fairest  daughters,  one  who  had  won  in 
Georgia  his  first  fame,  and  in  her  borders  done  his  noblest  work. 

We  need  not  follow  the  debate.  It  was  able  and  courteous^  in 
the  main,  but  a  Mr.  Cass,  of  New  England,  made  a  speech  which 
was  an  insult  to  all  decency,  and  to  him  young  Dr.  George  F. 
Pierce  replied. 

He  was  young,  ardent,  fearless.  He  had  seen  the  temper  of 
the  body;  he  had  just  heard  slave-holders  denounced  as  villains 
and  men-stealers.  He  began  by  boldly  stating  that  he  did  not 
expect  to  change  the  convictions  of  any  man  before  him,  nor 
did  he  feel  much  solicitude  about  the  question.  The  question  of 
unity  was  already  settled. 

He  said  there  was  slowly  developing,  but  surely,  a  plan  to 
deprive  Southern  ministers  of  all  their  rights  in  the  Church. 
The  action  of  the  Conference  in  the  Harding  case  had  brought 
the  Church  into  antagonism  to  the  laws  of  the  land,  the  Church 


254  History  of 

discipline  and  the  Bible.  He  did  not  believe  any  harm  would  re- 
sult to  the  Church,  outside  of  New  England,  by  sustaining  Bishop 
Andrew.  He  said :  "They  are  making  all  the  difficulty,  and  may 
be  described,  in  the  language  of  Paul,  as  intermeddlers  with 
other  men's  matters.  I  will  allow,  as  it  has  been  affirmed 
again  and  again,  that  there  may  be  secession;  societies  may  be 
broken  up,  conferences  split,  and  immense  damage  of  this  sort 
be  done  within  the  New  England  Conferences;  but  what  then? 
I  speak  soberly,  advisedly,  when  I  say  that  I  prefer  that  all  New 
England  should  secede,  or  be  set  off,  and  have  her  share  of  church 
property,  than  that  this  substitute  should  pass.  I  say,  let  New 
England  go,  with  all  my  heart ;  she  has  been  for  twenty  years 
a  thorn  in  the  flesh,  a  messenger  of  Satan  to  buffet  us ;  let  her 
go,  and  joy  go  with  her,  for  peace  will  stay  behind."  He  said 
if  the  South  wanted  only  serenity,  she  would  pray  for  and  de- 
mand disunion.  The  passage  of  the  resolution  would  not  dimin- 
ish, but  increase,  divisions.  He  predicted  that  prominent  men 
would  abandon  the  Church,  that  in  less  than  ten  years  there 
would  not  be  one  shred  of  the  distinctive  peculiarities  of  Method- 
ism left  in  the  conferences  that  depart  from  us.  The  presiding 
eldership  would  be  given  up,  the  itinerancy  would  come  to  an 
end,  and  Congregationalism  would  be  the  order  of  the  day.  The 
people  would  choose  their  own  pastors,  and  preachers  would  stand 
idle  in  the  market-places,  because  no  man  had  hired  them. 

These  predictions  were  bold.  They  have  been  often-time  refer- 
red to  as  rash  and  not  verified,  but  any  man  who  can  see  the  dif- 
ference between  a  name  and  a  thing  will  see  that  the  ardent  young 
Georgian  saw  with  a  prophet's  eye.  In  alluding  to  Bishop  An- 
drew, he  said :  "What  mean  these  eulogies — are  brethren  in 
earnest?  Is  this  conference  heaping  garlands  on  the  victim  they 
destine  for  slaughter?  Will  you  blight  with  a  breath  the  bliss 
of  this  worthy  man?  Will  you  offer  him  up  to  appease  that  foul 
spirit  of  the  pit,  which  has  sent  up  its  pestilental  breath  to  blast 
and  destroy  the  Church?  You  select  the  venerable  Bishop,  one 
of  the  ablest  and  best  of  the  whole  college,  to  immolate  him  on 
the  altar  of  this  juggernaut  of  perdition.  Think  you  that  we 
will  sit  here,  and  see  this  go  on  without  lifting  a  voice,  or  making 
a  protest  against  it?  God  forbid;  God  forbid,  I  say,  and  speak 
it  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart."  He  finished  his  speech  by 
saying:  "I  do  hope,  brethren  will  pause  before  they  drive  us  to 
the  fearful  catastrophe,  now  earnestly  to  be  deprecated,  but  in- 
evitable if  they  proceed." 


Georgia  Methodism.  255 

This  speech  had  a  thrilling  effect,  and  made  a  profound  im- 
pression.    But  what  availed  eloquence  or  argument? 

Dr.  Longstreet  then  addressed  the  conference  with  that  calm- 
ness and  clearness  which  always  marked  his  addresses. 

He  first  alluded  to  the  fact  that  the  Christian  religion  always 
lost  power  when  she  departed  from  her  appropriate  sphere,  but 
that  as  churches  had  grown  strong,  the  temptation  to  do  this 
had  been  yielded  to.  Methodism  was  the  pure  gospel  religion. 
All  rules  which  did  not  refer  to  the  fitness  of  man  for  Heaven, 
ought  to  be  stricken  out ;  in  the  course  Methodism  had  taken  in 
legislating  about  slavery,  she  has  gone  beyond  the  Bible.  Yet 
the  South  submitted,  and  endeavored  to  shield  the  Church  from 
censure ;  now  the  conference  proposed  to  go  further.  He  placed 
the  course  of  the  conference  most  clearly,  and  the  absurd  light 
in  which  it  stood,  by  stating  it  thus : 

"Whereas  Bishop  Andrew  is  a  man  of  most  unimpeachable 
moral  character,  ardently  beloved  by  every  member  of  this  con- 
ference and  in  the  discharge  of  his  official  duties,  active,  zealous 
and  self-sacrificing,  and  in  his  labors  of  love  for  the  slave  espe- 
cially peculiarly  efficient  and  successful,  and  whereas,  we  admit 
that  there  is  no  sin  in  the  simple  fact  of  holding  slaves,  and  noth- 
ing in  slavery  inconsistent  with  the  ministerial  character,  and  that 
nothing  ought  to  be  done  by  the  conference  to  throw  distrust 
upon  the  presiding  elder,  or  any  other  preacher  of  the  gospel, 
merely  on  the  ground  of  his  being  a  slave-holder,  nevertheless, 
inasmuch,  as  the  Bishop  has  married  a  lady  owning  slaves,  which 
slaves  he  has  settled  upon  her,  which  circumstances  render  him 
obnoxious  to  several  Northern  conferences,  therefore,  to  preserve 
peace  and  upon  grounds  of  policy,  -..«.,.  -i 

"Resolved,  that  he  be  suspended  from  his  official  duties,  until 
he  emancipate  his  slaves." 

With  that  withering  sarcasm  that  he  was  so  perfect  a  master 
of  Judge  Longstreet  exposed  the  absurd  inconsistency  of  the 
course  they  designed  to  take,  and  begged  the  conference  to  pause. 
He  went  into  a  labored  argument,  say  the  reports,  to  show  the 
legal  status  of  Bishop  Andrew,  as  a  slave-holder,  that  he  was 
involuntarily  and  irremediably  involved  as  one. 

Mr.  Jesse  T.  Peck,  now  Bishop  Peck,  then  arose  to  take  young 
Dr.  Pierce  in  hand,  and  administer  to  him  a  fatherly  rebuke.  This 
he  might  safely  venture  to  do  according  to  the  rule,  since  no 
man  could  speak  twice,  until  all  had  spoken.  As  it  is  not  the 
purpose  of  this  history  to  do  more  than  give  an  account  of  the 
part  the  Georgia  delegation  took  in  these  debates,  we  refer  our 


256  History  of 

readers  to  other  sources  for  a  verbatim  report  of  this  labored 
speech.  As  Air.  Peck  was  about  the  same  age  as  Dr.  G.  F.  Pierce, 
and  as  he  was  not  quite  thirty-five,  the  fatherly  tone  of  the  speaker 
was  as  amusing  as  it  was  offensive,  and  there  was  no  place  for 
reply.     But  the  Chair  allowed  Dr.  Pierce  to  explain. 

The  Journal  says : 

"Mr.  Pierce  rose  to  explain. 

"Mr.  Peck  has  made  much  ado  about  his  remarks  concerning 
New  England.  He  said,  perhaps  some  apology  might  be  due. 
He  intended  to  say  for  New  England  to  secede,  or  to  be  set  off 
with  a  pro  rata  division  of  the  property,  would  be  a  light  evil 
compared  with  the  immolation  of  Bishop  Andrew  on  the  altar 
of  a  pseudo  expediency.  He  intended  no  disrespect  to  New  Eng- 
land. He  paid  touching  tributes  to  Bishop  Soule  and  Dr.  Olin, 
and  then  turning  to  Mr.  Peck  said : 

"  'And,  sir,  I  recognize  you  as  a  man  with  a  soul  in  your  body, 
warm,  generous,  glowing.  I  admire  your  spirit,  your  genius.  The 
beauty  of  the  bud  gives  promise  of  a  luscious  blossom,  the  early 
beams  foretell  a  glorious  noon.  And  now,  sir,  though  my  speech 
shocked  your  nerves  so  badly,  I  trust  my  explanation  will  not 
ruffle  a  hair  on  the  crown  of  your  head.'  " 

Mr.  Peck  was  very  portly  and  very  bald.  As  the  speaker  turned 
to  him,  he  put  his  fan  up  to  his  face,  covering  it  from  sight,  and 
leaving  exposed  only  the  bare  crown  of  his  head.  The  good 
nature  of  the  fling  brought  down  the  house,  and  any  bad  temper 
which  had  been  felt  was  at  once  driven  away. 

It  is  not  our  purpose,  and  we  have  not  space  to  give  even  an 
outline  of  the  various  points  presented  as  this  discussion  con- 
tinued. Any  one  who  reads  the  debates  carefully  can  not  fail 
to  see  that  slavery  as  a  system  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  mat- 
ter at  all,  save  as  it  was  the  occasion  for  the  difficulty.  The  great 
question  really  was:  "Has  the  General  Conference  the  right, 
without  trial,  to  deprive  a  Bishop  of  his  office,  if  in  its  opinion, 
without  moral  delinquency  or  mental  deficiency,  he  has  become 
unacceptable  to  any  part  of  the  connection?" 

The  discussion  was  continued  by  Dr.  Green,  who  brought  out 
forcibly  the  main  point  relied  upon  by  the  South,  that  the  Bishop 
was  not  an  officer  of  the  General  Conference  to  be  removed  at 
its  will;  that  the  General  Conference  was  restricted  in  its  action 
by  the  Constitution  of  the  Church ;  that  Bishop  Andrew  had  vio- 
lated no  law  of  the  Church,  and  that  the  General  Conference 
could  not  legally  deprive  him  of  his  office.  The  great  speech  on 
the  other  side  was  made  on  Monday,  by  Dr.  Hamline.     For  the 


Georgia  Methodism.  257 

first  lime  an  argument  was  presented.  It  was  as  strong  as  it 
could  be  made  on  the  position  that  the  General  Conference  was 
supreme,  and  could  remove  any  officer  of  the  Church  if,  in  its 
opinion,  he  had  from  any  cause  become  unacceptable  to  any  por- 
tion of  the  Church.  Dr.  W.  A.  Smith,  who  was  almost  without 
a  peer,  in  debate,  followed  Dr.  Hamline,  and  in  an  able  speech 
answered  his  argument,  and  vindicated  the  legal  rights  of  Bishop 
Andrew.  The  Bishop,  in  response  to  a  question  whether  he  had 
expressed  a  willingness  to  resign,  said  (see  page  147,  Gen.  Con. 
Jour.)  that  when  he  arrived  in  Baltimore  he  heard  a  rumor  of 
the  intention  of  the  conference  to  insist  that  he  must  resign  or 
be  deposed.  If  he  had  violated  any  law  of  the  discipline,  he  was 
willing  to  resign.  If  he  could  secure  the  peace  of  the  Church 
by  resigning,  he  would  gladly  do  so.  He  had  no  fondness  for 
the  episcopacy,  and  if  his  resignation  would  secure  the  peace 
of  the  Church,  he  would  gladly  present  it,  and  return  to  labor 
among  the  slaves,  and  try  to  save  those  upon  whom  their  pre- 
tended friends  were  inflicting  only  suffering  and  ruin.  John  A. 
Collins  then  introduced  a  preamble  and  resolution  intended  as 
a  compromise,  which  of  course  came  to  naught.  Bishop  Andrew 
then  rose,  and  said,  with  deep  emotion,  "that  he  had  been  on 
trial  for  a  week,  and  he  thought  it  was  time  for  the  discussion 
to  close."  He  then  gave  an  account  of  the  manner  in  which  he 
came  to  be  a  Bishop.  He  had  been  approached  by  S.  K.  Hodges 
with  a  request  that  he  should  be  put  in  nomination  for  the  office. 
He  objected,  was  urged  by  his  friends,  and,  for  the  sake  of  se- 
curing peace,  consented  to  be  a  candidate.  No  one  asked  him 
what  were  his  principles  on  slave-holding;  no  man,  save  Wm. 
Winans,  spoke  to  him  on  the  subject.  He  was  elected.  He  be- 
came possessed  of  a  slave  in  the  way  mentioned  before.  He 
lost  his  wife.  He  desired  to  marry  again.  The  lady  owned 
slaves.  With  his  eyes  open  he  married  her.  He  could  not  free 
them.  They  themselves  would  not  go ;  many  of  them  would  neces- 
sarily suffer  if  they  did.  What  could  he  do?  He  had  no  con- 
fession to  make.  He  intended  to  make  none.  He  had  all  his 
lifetime  labored  for  the  slaves.  He  did  not  think  he  was  unac- 
ceptable out  of  New  England.  He  could  find  plenty  of  ground 
where  he  could  labor  acceptably  and  usefully.  Yet  the  confer- 
ence might  take  its  course.  He  protested  against  the  one  pro- 
posed as  a  violation  of  his  disciplinary  rights.  (Gen.  Con.  Jour., 
p.  148.)  The  other  speeches  which  followed  were  unimportant, 
each  going  over  almost  the  same  ground.  The  venerable  Saml. 
Dunwoody  made  a  speech  remarkable  for  its  logic  and   for  its 


258  History  of 

Biblical  learning  on  the  general  question  of  slavery  as  a  moral 
evil.  The  speech  of  Bishop  Soule  was  clear  in  its  presentation 
of  the  legal  aspect  of  the  question  as  well  as  forcible  and  elo- 
quent. Dr.  Capers  followed  with  a  speech  clear,  conclusive,  and 
eloquent. 

It  was  evident  that  the  Church  had  reached  a  crisis  in  her  his- 
tory such  as  she  had  never  known;  and  that  if  the  vote  was  then 
taken  a  division  was  inevitable.  The  Bishop  knew  it,  the  South- 
ern delegates  knew  it,  such  men  as  Dr.  Olin  knew  it ;  but  the  ma- 
jority of  the  conference  did  not,  and  would  not  know  it.  The 
leading  men  of  the  north  believed  that  the  south  would  submit 
without  a  murmur  to  the  degradation  of  her  much-loved  Bishop, 
and  the  overthrow  of  all  the  safeguards  the  laws  of  the  Church 
gave  them.  They  scoffed  at  the  idea  of  division.  The  extreme 
men  of  the  North  openly  threatened  secession,  schism  and  disin- 
tegration, if  the  Bishop  was  not  deposed,  for  this  resolution  did, 
in  fact,  deprive  him  of  his  episcopal  powers.  The  Bishops  came 
to  the  rescue  and  presented  a  peace  measure,  begging  the  post- 
ponement of  action  for  four  years.  Once  before  this  movement 
had  saved  the  Church,  it  might  do  so  again.  The  conference  was 
in  no  humor  to  pause,  and  after  Bishop  Hedding  and  Bishop 
Waugh  withdrew  their  indorsement  of  the  plan  of  peace  they  had 
jointly,  with  Bishops  Soule  and  Morris,  presented,  the  whole  plan 
failed.  The  vote  must  come,  and  it  was  taken  by  Yeas  and  Nays 
on  Saturday,  June  ist.  One  New  York  man  alone  voted  with  the 
South — Charles  W.  Carpenter.  We  have  spoken  of  a  young  New 
Yorker  in  Savannah,  in  1819,  who  stood  by  the  Church  there  in 
its  day  of  trial ;  now  single-handed  and  alone,  he  stood  by  his 
Southern  brethren.  Dr.  Sehon,  of  Ohio ;  G.  Smith,  of  Michigan ; 
Sinclair,  of  Rock  River;  Stamper,  Berryman  and  Van  Cleve,  of 
Illinois;  Sheer,  Gere,  Sargent,  Tippett  and  Hildt  of  Baltimore; 
Thompson,  White  and  Cooper,  of  Philadelphia;  Neal  and  Sover- 
eign, of  New  Jersey,  and  the  whole  Southern  delegation,  voted 
together  against  the  substitute.  The  Yeas  were  all  from  the 
North  and  West,  save  Clark,  from  Texas.  The  vote  was  in  to 
69.  The  work  was  done.  The  General  Conference  had  declared 
that  it  was  supreme;  that  a  Bishop  elected  for  life  could  be  de- 
posed at  any  time,  when  in  the  opinion  of  a  conference,  he  was 
unacceptable.  Tt  mattered  not  why.  The  cause  might  be  one 
entirely  insufficient  to  produce  the  effect;  but,  if  he  was  distaste- 
ful, he  might  be  removed,  if  there  were  votes  enough  to  do  it. 
Connection  with  Masonry,  with  an  unpopular  political  party — 
anything  might  be  called  improper  conduct,  and  without  trial  he 
could  be  deposed. 


REV.    M.    .1.    Ci  >FER,    D.D., 
Editor  Wesleyan  Christian  Advocate. 


Georgia  Methodism.  261 

The  majority  were  entirely  ignorant  of  the  extent  of  the  dam- 
age this  vote  had  done.  There  was  perhaps  only  one  among  them 
that  saw  it.  That  was  Stephen  Olin,  the  only  one  who  voted  for 
that  substitute  because  he  saw  in  that  vote  the  only  way  to  con- 
solidate both  North  and  South  and  prevent  schism.  He  knew  the 
South  must  go ;  he  believed  this  vote  would  bind  her  together  with 
bands  of  iron,  and  he  was  right  in  this  view.  The  enormity  of  the 
outrage,  the  bold  announcement  made  in  the  deed  that  never 
Southern  man  again  should  be  a  Bishop,  the  disregard  of  all  writ- 
ten law,  the  fearful  progress  of  the  radicalism  which  owned  a 
higher  law  than  the  written,  awakened  a  storm  of  indignation, 
which  made  a  great  unit  of  all  the  South. 

Bishop  Andrew,  crushed  and  almost  broken-hearted,  left  the 
conference  that  night  for  his  home  in  Georgia. 

The  ordinary  work  of  the  General  Conference  continued  until 
the  5th  of  June,  when  Judge  Longstreet  introduced  the  declaration 
of  the  Southern  members  (see  p.  200,  General  Conference  Jour- 
nals, vol.  ii.),  and  the  following  day  Dr.  Bascom  introduced  the 
celebrated  protest  which  is  to  be  found  in  the  history  of  the  or- 
ganization of  the  M.  E.  Church  South,  and  the  journals.  (Gen- 
eral Conference  M.  E.  Church,  vol.  ii.,  p.  204.)  It  was  an  ex- 
ceedingly able  document,  presenting  a  clear  view  of  the  whole 
issue  between  the  Northern  and  Southern  delegates.  It  was 
spread  upon  the  minutes.  The  famous  committee  of  nine,  to 
whom  the  declaration  of  the  Southern  delegates  was  referred, 
reported  what  is  known  as  the  plan  of  separation,  which  provides 
for  the  establishment  of  another  General  Conference,  in  case  it 
became  evident  that  such  a  result  was  necessary.  The  modes  by 
which  churches  were  to  adhere  to  either  body  was  indicated,  and 
provision  was  made  for  the  division  of  the  Church  property.  This 
report  of  the  committee  was  unanimous,  and  its  adoption  was 
moved  by  Dr.  Charles  Elliot.  He  was  followed  by  Dr.  Hamline 
in  a  beautiful  and  impressive  speech,  and  by  Dr.  James  Porter. 
After  a  considerable  discussion,  full  of  Christian  feeling,  the  re- 
port was  adopted  by  a  large  majority. 

The  prospect  was  now  bright  that  if  division  should  come  there 
would  be  only  fraternity  in  all  the  borders  of  American  Method- 
ism. So  it  might  have  been  ;  but  when  the  delegates  returned  to 
their  homes,  and  when  what  the  Southern  delegates  had  told  them 
would  come  to  pass  was  about  to  be,  measures  were  at  once  taken 
to  prevent  the  consummation  of  the  plan  of  separation,  and  years 
of  alienation  and  strife  were  the  result. 

The  student  of  this  period  of  history  recognizes  the  old  issue  of 


262  History  of 

1820,  when  McKendree  resisted  the  General  Conference,  as  again 
made.  He  sees  that  the  General  Conference,  intentionally  or 
otherwise,  took  the  ground  of  the  advocates  of  an  elective  presid- 
ing eldership,  that  the  General  Conference  is  the  supreme  judi- 
cature, as  well  as  legislature,  and  that  its  will  is  to  be  recognized 
as  the  finale.  The  Southern  Churches  held  different  ground.  The 
Bishops  were  co-ordinate  with  the  conference.  They  existed,  by 
the  expressed  will  of  the  Church,  before  there  was  a  delegated 
General  Conference,  and  when  a  General  Conference  of  dele- 
gates was  called  its  powers  were  limited  by  a  constitution. 

The  conference  which  met  in  Eatonton,  January  18,  1845,  was 
the  last  session  of  the  Georgia  Conference  of  the  M.  E.  Church 
until  after  the  war,  when  that  General  Conference  established  a 
conference  in  Georgia.  There  had  been  but  little  disturbance  in 
Georgia  and  no  serious  division  of  sentiment.  All  agreed  that 
the  time  for  division  had  come,  and  the  conference  went  about  its 
work  as  one  man. 

There  were  twenty-one  received  on  trial.  They  were :  John 
S.  Dunn,  Albert  G.  Banks,  John  B.  C.  Quillian,  John  C.  Ley, 
Osborne  L.  Smith,  Robert  M.  Carter,  James  M.  N.  Lowe,  Wil- 
liam A.  Smyth,  Reuben  H.  Grifhn,  John  H.  Caldwell,  George  H. 
Hancock,  John  M.  Marshall,  Nathaniel  N.  Allen,  James  Quillian, 
Freeman  T.  Reynolds,  George  W.  Pratt,  H.  H.  McQueen,  Jacob 
B.  Hogue,  Gideon  Y.  Thomason.  George  C.  Clarke,  William  J. 
Cotter.  Of  these,  Pratt,  Lowe,  Griffin,  Ley  and  George  Clarke 
were  transferred  to  Florida.  Banks,  Carter,  Smyth,  Hogue, 
Thomason,  McQueen  did  but  little  work  in  the  conference,  but 
there  were  several  who  remained  in  it  until  they  died. 

J.  B.  C.  Quillian  was  a  mountain  boy,  of  fine  character  and 
really  bright  mind.  He  was  frail  in  body,  and  after  a  few  years 
broke  down  in  health.  He  was  very  poetic  and  fond  of  the  bril- 
liant images  and  melodious  words ;  and  when  he  could  no  longer 
preach,  he  published  some  books  of  essays  and  sermons,  and  was 
one  of  the  first  authors  of  the  conference.  He  was  a  man  of  un- 
questioned piety  and  was  greatly  beloved  by  the  people  among 
whom  lie  lived  and  did  much  good  work  for  the  Church  while 
superannuated. 

Doctor  Osborne  L.  Smith,  as  plain  Osborne  L.  Smith,  began 
his  life  work  this  year.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Emory  College  and 
a  man  of  fine  culture.  He  was  exceedinglv  popular  as  a  preacher, 
and  was  in  ?reat  demand  as  a  teacher,  and  was  both  professor  and 
president  of  the  Wesleyan  Female  College;  professor  and  presi- 
dent of  Emory ;  and  while  in  the  presidency  there,  he  suddenly 


Georgia  Methodism.  263 

passed  away.  He  was  the  only  itinerant  Methodist  preacher  who 
has  been  a  member  of  the  Legislature.  He  was  while  supernum- 
erary in  Lower  Georgia  elected  both  to  the  House  and  Senate. 

John  H.  Caldwell  was  a  man  of  very  fine  gifts  and  quite  a  pop- 
ular preacher.  He  was  a  warm  Southern  man,  and  Southern 
Methodist ;  but  when  the  war  ended  as  it  did,  he  changed  his 
views;  withdrew  from  the  Southern  Church,  and  joined  the  M.  E. 
Church.  He  was  unpleasantly  entangled  in  the  meshes  of  poli- 
tics, and  finally  removed  from  Georgia  to  Delaware,  where  he 
died  a  superannuated  member  of  the  M.  E.  Church.  He  was  a 
man  of  some  literary' attainments  and  wrote  and  published  the 
first  fiction  from  a  Georgia  Methodist  preacher. 

George  H.  Hancock  was  a  graduate  of  the  State  University,  a 
very  bright  preacher,  and  a  professor  in  the  Wesleyan  Female 
College.     He  died  quite  young. 

John  M.  Marshall  was  for  many  years  a  most  active,  useful  and 
faithful  member  of  the  conference,  who  died  in  very  old  age,  a 
superannuated  member  of  the  South  Georgia  Conference. 

James  Ouillian  was  an  aged  man  when  he  began  his  work  as  a 
travelling  preacher.    He  was  a  faithful  man  to  the  end. 

Freeman  T.  Reynolds  was  a  strong,  earnest,  gifted  man,  who 
after  years  of  activity  in  the  Georgia,  South  Georgia  and  North 
Georgia  Conferences,  became  greatly  afflicted,  and  after  several 
years  of  prolonged  suffering,  passed  away. 

George  C.  Clarke  was  a  man  of  fine  person,  genuine  piety, 
strong  mind  and  good  culture.  As  a  preacher  on  circuits  and  sta- 
tions, and  as  a  Presiding  Elder,  he  did  excellent  work  until  he  was 
past  three-score  and  ten. 

William  J.  Cotter  was  a  mountain  boy  whose  family  lived 
among  the  Indians  in  Murray  County.  He  was  converted  while 
that  county  was  in  the  Holston  Conference.  He  had  a  better  edu- 
cation than  many  of  his  associates,  and  taught  school.  He  entered 
the  conference  and  has  been  for  seventy-four  years  a  most  valua- 
ble member  of  it.  He  was  professor  in  the  LaGrange  Female 
College.  He  is  still  living  (1912),  a  Master  of  Arts  by  compli- 
ment of  Emory  College,  a  wise  counsellor  and  a  devout  and  sin- 
cere Christian  gentleman. 

The  work  of  the  Church  had  gone  steadily,  if  not  rapidly,  for- 
ward. The  frontier  features  had  passed  away,  except  in  the 
mountains  and  in  the  pine  woods,  and  the  purely  evangelistic  was 
being  succeeded  by  an  educational  era. 

There  was  not  the  slightest  jar  in  the  machinery  of  the  confer- 
ence resulting:  from  a  change  of  General  Conferences.    The  con- 


264  History  of 

vention  assembled  in  Louisville,  Kentucky,  in  May,  1845.  Dele- 
gates from  Georgia  were :  Lovick  Pierce,  James  E.  Evans,  John 
W.  Glenn,  Samuel  Anthony,  Augustus  B.  Longstreet,  Isaac  Bor- 
ing, James  B.  Payne. 

There  was  no  division  of  sentiment,  and  in  January  of  1846, 
the  first  Georgia  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  was  held  in  Athens. 

It  had  now  been  about  sixty  years  since  Humphries  and  Major 
had  crossed  the  Savannah  River  to  begin  work  in  the  new  State 
of  Georgia.  There  were  now  seven  very  large  districts  in  the 
Georgia  Conference,  and  one  entire  Georgia  District  in  the  Florida 
Conference,  and  a  part  of  two  others,  for  a  very  large  part  of  the 
thinly  settled  part  of  the  State  was  in  that  conference.  There  were 
in  the  Georgia  Conference  proper  49,000  members,  white  and  col- 
ored. There  had  been  raised  for  missions  the  year  of  the  sepa- 
ration $5,805.00,  and  by  the  conference  $1,151.37  for  superannu- 
ated preachers  and  those  deficient  in  their  allowance.  The  largest 
amount  paid  to  a  superannuated  preacher  was  $162.00,  to  R.  J. 
Winn,  and  the  smallest  to  a  preacher  was  to  Winsor  Graham,  who 
received  $6.05. 

The  districts  were  the  Savannah,  Augusta,  Athens,  Macon,  Co- 
lumbus, and  LaGrange.  The  stations  were  Savannah,  Augusta, 
Washington,  Sparta,  Athens,  Macon,  Milledgeville,  Columbus, 
LaGrange.  There  was  being  ushered  in  a  new  era  in  State  affairs. 
The  railroads,  which  had  been  dragging  their  slow  length  along, 
had  now  reached  their  uniting  point  at  Marthasville,  where  At- 
lanta now  is,  and  one  could  leave  Dalton  and  travel  by  rail  to 
Savannah.  The  great  depression  in  financial  matters,  which  had 
been  so  serious  for  eight  years,  was  now  about  over,  and  an  era 
of  prosperity  had  set  in.  There  were  but  two  brick  churches  in 
the  State,  one  in  Culloden  and  one  in  Augusta.  There  was  not 
an  organ  then  nor  for  twenty  years  afterward.  The  preachers 
generally  dressed  in  their  old  style  uniform.  A  cut-a-way  coat 
known  irreverently  as  a  "shad-belly,"  and  a  white  cravat  were 
their  distinctive  marks.  Not  a  man  wore  a  beard.  The  broad- 
brimmed  Quaker  hat  was  still  in  favor.  Class  meetings  were  still 
greatly  extolled,  and  few  preachers  failed  to  say  much,  and  say 
it  often,  about  the  ruffles  and  furbelows  and  feathers  of  fashiona- 
ble Indies.  Revivals  were  expected  annually,  especially  at  camp- 
meeting.  The  protracted  meetings  in  towns  and  villages  were  of 
annual  recurrence.  Most  of  the  church  buildings  were  unpainted 
shells,  without  stoves  or  a  touch  of  paint.  The  preachers 
on  the  circuits  expected  to  preach  every  day  in  the  month,  except 


Georgia  Methodism.  265 

Monday,  as  aforetime,  for  though  some  circuits  were  smaller,  the 
appointments  were  more  frequent.  The  allowance  of  the  preacher 
was  $150.00  a  year  for  a  man ;  the  same  for  his  wife,  and  a  small 
amount  for  each  child  under  fourteen.  The  Presiding  Elders  had 
great  districts.  John  C.  Simmons  went  from  Darien  to  Louisville, 
and  from  Telfair  to  Savannah.  George  F.  Pierce,  from  Augusta 
to  Sparta  and  to  Washington.  Russell  Renneau,  from  Marietta 
to  Dade,  and  across  the  mountains  to  the  North  Carolina  and 
South  Carolina  line.  These  districts  were  all  to  be  travelled  on 
horseback  or  in  a  sulky,  for  buggies  were  very  rare  in  those  days. 
The  preachers  in  the  Florida  Conference  who  travelled  in  Georgia 
had  to  endure  the  same  privations  borne  by  the  pioneer  preachers 
in  Middle  Georgia  fifty  years  before. 

The  two  colleges,  Emory  and  Wesleyan,  were  struggling  for- 
ward under  great  burdens,  but  doing  good  work.  The  Southern 
Christian  Advocate  in  Charleston  was  the  organ  of  the  confer- 
ence, and  was  ably  edited  and  well  sustained.  There  was  an  hon- 
est effort  made  to  provide  all  with  the  Gospel,  and  the  colored  mis- 
sions were  numerous  and  well  equipped. 

The  salaries  of  the  preachers  were  very  small,  and  there  was 
little  system  in  collecting  them.  Many  of  the  people  interpreted 
the  term  "quarterage"  as  25  cents  per  quarter,  to  be  a  full  payment 
for  all  demands.  There  was  no  foreign  mission  in  the  Church 
except  among  the  Indians,  and  the  missionary  collection  was  ap- 
plied to  supporting  missionaries  to  the  negroes.  Such  is  a  bird's- 
eyeview  of  the  first  Georgia  Conference  of  the  M.  E.  Church, 
South. 

There  were  two  conferences  in  1846,  one  in  Athens  and  one 
which  met  in  Macon  in  December. 

There  were  admitted  on  trial :  Joseph  D.  Adams,  William  W. 
Allen,  James  Anthony,  Francis  W.  Baggerly,  Jones  E.  Cook, 
James  H.  Ewing,  Samuel  L.  Hamilton,  Thomas  F.  Pierce,  Joshua 
S.  Sappington,  William  A.  Simmons,  Eustace  Speer,  Davidson 
Williamson.  There  were  twelve  admitted,  and  from  them  sprung 
an  unusual  number  of  distinguished  workers. 

Tames  Anthony,  as  he  is  written,  was  James  D.  Anthony,  who 
died  while  a  superannuated  preacher  of  the  South  Georgia  Con- 
ference. He  sprang  from  the  famous  Anthony  family  of  which 
Samuel  Anthony,  his  cousin,  was  a  member.  He  was  a  man  of 
large  frame  and  large  heart.  He  had  been  brought  up  on  the 
frontier,  but  had  some  better  educational  advantages  than  most 
of  his  compeers.  He  taught  school  a  short  time,  but  decided  to 
join  the  conference,  and  came  to  it  while  a  youth.    He  was  a  man 


266  History  of 

of  wonderful  imagination  and  of  great  fluency,  and  his  words 
were  well  chosen.  He  knew  the  way  to  the  hearts  of  the  people 
and  was  wonderfully  popular  and  successful  from  the  beginning 
of  his  work.  With  the  exception  of  a  few  years  of  retirement 
because  of  family  affliction,  he  continued  a  travelling  preacher  to 
the  end.  He  was  remarkably  successful  as  a  Presiding  Elder  in 
the  wiregrass  section,  and  was  known  as  the  "Bishop  of  the  Wire 
Grass."  He  wrote  a  charming  volume  of  reminiscences  which 
throws  much  light  on  the  history  of  the  Church,  and  of  the  State 
as  they  were  in  his  youth. 

Thomas  F.  Pierce  was  the  youngest  son  of  Doctor  Lovick 
Pierce,  and  a  brother  of  Bishop  George  F.  Pierce.  He  was  gradu- 
ated at  Oxford ;  was  teaching  school  at  Culverton,  and  was  con- 
verted at  the  Hancock  camp  meeting.  He  at  once  began  to 
preach,  and  for  nearly  sixty  years  was  an  effective  preacher.  He 
was  a  man  of  great  energy  and  zeal,  and  was  very  popular  as  a 
preacher.  He  was  highly  honored  by  his  conference  and  was  for 
many  years  one  of  its  most  faithful  workers. 

William  A.  Simmons  joined  the  conference  this  year,  and  died 
in  connection  with  the  North  Georgia  Conference  at  an  advanced 
age.  He  was  a  saintly  man,  devoted  to  his  work.  He  spent  some 
years  in  California  among  the  mines,  then  ieturned  to  Georgia  and 
worked  forcefully  to  the  end. 

Eustace  Speer  was  the  distinguished  Doctor  Eustace  W.  Speer. 
He  was  a  young  man  of  fine  education,  of  great  loveliness  of  char- 
acter, and  almost  unrivalled  as  a  preacher.  He  was  the  Melville 
of  Methodism,  but  exceedingly  modest  and  retiring,  and  any  pub- 
lic exercise  was  a  trial  to  him.  He  retired  finally  from  the  con- 
ference, and  was  a  professor  in  the  State  University.  After  re- 
signing his  chair  there  he  quietly  spent  his  last  days  in  his  beauti- 
ful home  in  Athens. 

There  was  great  religious  excitement  during  this  period,  found 
largely  among  professors  of  religion,  and  perhaps  the  first  decided 
issue  joined  between  the  members  of  the  Georgia  Conference  on 
any  Methodist  doctrine  was  now  made  on  the  subject  of  Christian 
Perfection.  From  the  days  of  Asbury  and  Coke  there  had  never 
been  any  question  of  the  truth  of  the  doctrine  that  after  one's 
conversion  there  was  demanded  a  work  of  grace  to  destroy  the 
least  and  last  remains  of  the  sinful  tendency;  that  this  work  was 
to  be  looked  for  and  prayed  for.  and  that  it  would  certainly  come 
during  the  earthly  life,  if  not  before  yet  certainly  in  the  hour  and 
article  of  death.  This  work  was  called  "Entire  Sanctification,"  or 
"Christian  Perfection."     Now  and  then  an  old  brother  noted  for 


Georgia  Methodism.  267 

his  adherence  to  the  old  standards,  and  one  who  was  a  man  of 
great  piety,  preached  on  it,  and  a  few  very  timidly  professed  to 
enjoy  the  blessing;  but  near  this  time  Mrs.  Phoebe  Palmer,  of 
New  York,  wrote  a  little  book  on  the  "Way  of  Holiness,"  put- 
ting the  matter  in  a  new  light.  There  was,  she  declared,  a  shorter 
way  than  the  one  long  supposed  to  be  the  only  one.  She  told 
with  careful  minuteness  her  experience  in  finding  the  great  bles- 
sing. Doctor  Upham  wrote  two  books,  on  the  "Interior  Life" 
and  the  "Life  of  Faith."  The  Congregationalists  of  the  North, 
as  well  as  the  Methodists,  accepted  Mrs.  Palmer's  views  as  cor- 
rect. Doctor  Mahan,  of  Oberlin,  O.,  and  the  great  evangelist, 
Finney,  preached  earnestly  her  views.  They  were  not  those  taught 
by  Mr.  Wesley,  but  they  did  not  antagonize  them,  only  went  be- 
yond them.  There  was  no  long,  painful  process  of  seeking  for 
faith,  or  for  the  death  of  sin.  We  were  simply  to  consecrate  all, 
and  believe  that  the  offering  was  accepted,  and  that  we  were 
cleansed  from  all  sin,  and  to  profess  publicly  that  we  had  entered 
in.  There  were  many  who  accepted  her  views  and  professed  to  be 
entirely  sanctified  by  this  shorter  way;  but  some  doubted,  and 
there  was  a  somewhat  warm  discussion  on  the  subject.  But  the 
agitation  led  to  deeper  consecration  and  a  larger  faith.  Many  a 
minister  and  member  was  all  the  better  for  having  had  the  heart 
and  mind  turned  to  this  matter  of  a  higher  life. 

The  work  was  constantly  advancing,  and  the  laborers  were  in- 
creasing. 

In  Savannah,  Athens,  Macon,  Augusta  and  Columbus,  there 
were  no  colored  members  connected  with  the  white  charges ;  but 
they  had  separate  churches  of  the  same  faith. 

At  this  conference  there  was  a  class  of  twenty-one  admitted 
on  trial,  among  them  being  James  B.  Smith,  John  F.  Flanders, 
Adolphus  J.  Orr,  Joseph  H.  Echols,  William  B.  Map,  Stephen 
Shell,  Wiley  G.  Parks,  Henry  Cranford,  John  M.  Bonnell,  Wil- 
liam Moreland,  Samuel  J.  Bellah,  Thomas  H.  Whitby,  Wyatt  A. 
Brooks,  M.  H.  Hebbard  and  Patrick  A.  Wright.  Of  these  only 
a  few  remained  for  any  considerable  time  in  connection  with  the 
conference. 

Henry  Cranford,  a  simple-hearted,  uncultivated,  but  devotedly 
pious  man,  when  he  was  required  to  study  English  grammar  made 
an  honest  effort  to  do  it,  but  said  he  could  not  get  happy  over  it, 
and  ^ave  it  up,  and  was  excused.  He  died  in  connection  with  the 
conference  after  having  done  faithful  and  earnest  work  on  many 
circuits  and  missions. 

James  Bradford  Smith  was  a  man  of  piety  and  promise,  but 
died  early. 


268  History  cf 

James  H.  Echols  was  a  man  of  lovely  character,  of  fine  intel- 
lect, and  of  collegiate  training.  He  did  not  remain  long  in  the 
itinerancy. 

\Y.  B.  Mapp,  Stephen  Shell  and  William  Moreland  all  retired 
early. 

Samuel  J.  Bellah,  after  several  years  of  hard  work,  was  super- 
annuated, but  did  useful  work  in  the  circuits  near  him.  He  was  a 
very  meek,  gentle,  devoted  man. 

Thomas  H.  Whitby  went  to  Alabama. 

Wyatt  R.  Brooks  was  a  useful,  faithful  man,  who  did  good 
work  in  hard  places  for  years. 

M.  H.  Hebbard  was  a  man  of  great  faithfulness,  but  of  mod- 
erate gifts. 

Patrick  Arminius  Wright  was  one  of  the  youngest  of  the  class. 
lie  had  better  early  training  than  was  general  in  those  days,  and 
was  a  man  of  generous  mind.  He  travelled  some  hard  circuits, 
married  a  lady  of  wealth,  and  became  a  planter.  He  kept  up  his 
studies,  returned  to  the  conference,  and  became  one  of  the  leading 
preachers  stationed  in  the  best  churches.  While  stationed  in  Ma- 
con, after  a  most  gracious  revival  his  health  gave  way,  and  he 
retired  to  his  home  in  Columbus,  where  he  died. 

Wiley  G.  Parks  was  a  gifted,  warm-hearted,  mercurial  young 
lawyer,  when  he  came  to  Georgia.  He  became  wretchedly  dissi- 
pated, was  converted,  became  an  itinerant  preacher  and  a  Pre- 
siding Elder,  and  was  one  of  the  most  useful  men  of  his  time. 
His  health  was  not  good,  and  because  of  this,  his  warm  social  dis- 
position and  other  causes,  he  fell  under  the  censure  of  his  breth- 
ren for  excess  of  wine.  He  was  expelled  from  the  conference, 
but  at  once  came  back  into  the  church,  and  died  in  it  with  the 
full  confidence  and  tender  love  of  all  who  knew  him. 

Charles  Fullwood,  as  he  is  written,  was  a  young  man  only 
about  eighteen  years  old  when  he  became  a  travelling  preacher. 
He  did  very  excellent  work  for  over  sixty  years  in  Georgia  and 
Florida,  and  died  in  the  conference  room  in  Florida  in  1905. 

John  M.  Bonnell  was  a  Pennsylvanian,  a  man  of  very  fine  mind 
and  of  very  advanced  culture.  He  was  a  born  teacher,  and  was 
called  from  the  pulpit  which  he  greatly  loved  to  the  school  room. 
He  was  president  of  the  Wesleyan  Female  College,  when  it  needed 
his  wise  management,  during  and  just  after  the  war.  He  was  not 
a  strong  man,  and  very  suddenly  he  passed  away  with  heart  fail- 
ure while  in  the  bloom  of  his  youth. 

The  camp  meetings  in  Middle  Georgia  were  very  numerous.  In 
every  county  there  was  one,  and  in  many  of  the  counties  more 


Georgia  Methodism.  269 

than  one.  While  the  camp  meetings  in  the  western  part  of  the 
State,  in  the  mountains,  and  in  the  pine  woods  of  Southern  Geor- 
gia, presented  in  many  respects  the  features  which  belonged  to 
tiiern  in  their  early  history,  a  great  change  had  passed  over  them 
in  all  Middle  Georgia.  The  arbor,  or  even  the  rude  shed  covered 
with  boards,  had  given  way,  and  the  hundreds  of  small  tents  and 
the  multitude  of  visitors  who  came  in  ox  carts  and  covered  wagons 
with  cooked  provisions  to  find  a  few  days  in  worship,  were  seen 
no  longer.  The  tabernacle  was  now  generally  a  large  shed  cov- 
ered with  shingles,  in  the  midst  of  a  square.  On  each  of  the  four 
sides  was  a  row  of  comfortable,  well-covered  and  roomy  tents,  as 
they  were  called.  The  planter  brought  from  his  plantation  a  full 
retinue  of  servants  and  an  abundant  supply  of  provisions.  It  was 
a  time  of  reunion — children,  grandchildren  and  kinspeople  came 
from  all  directions.  The  table  groaned  with  abundant  and  tooth- 
some viands.  Preachers  from  circuits  and  stations  near  by  came 
to  greet  their  old  flocks.  While  there  was  often  a  deep  religious 
concern,  it  could  not  be  disguised  that  many  who  were  not  reli- 
gious had  come  to  camp  meeting  for  the  social  enjoyment  which 
the  time  and  place  afforded.  The  meeting  was  under  the  control 
of  the  Presiding  Elder.  He  was  expected,  unless  a  Bishop  was 
present,  to  preach  every  day  at  n  o'clock.  There  was  the  same 
routine  of  services  which  had  been  observed  from  the  first: 
Preaching  at  8,  n,  3  and  at  night.  Sometimes  there  was  great 
excitement,  but  often  the  meetings  were  quiet  enough  to  have 
satisfied  Southey  himself.  The  camp  meeting,  with  all  its  dis- 
counts, was  a  great  blessing.  There  was  little  chance  where  so 
many  were  gathered  for  grossly  criminal  conduct,  and  the  rigid 
policing  kept  things  in  order.  Friends  met,  kinspeople  were  re- 
united, new  acquaintances  were  formed,  and  then  the  most  elo- 
quent and  instructive  sermons  were  heard  by  all  the  people,  many 
of  whom  at  no  other  time  heard  a  Methodist  preacher.  The  old 
time  when  scores,  even  hundreds,  were  converted,  was  not  now; 
but  Bishop  Pierce  used  to  say  that  these  meetings  in  the  field 
would  have  been  been  a  blessing  even  if  no  one  had  been  con- 
verted during  their  progress.  The  protracted  meeting  was  now 
more  common  ;  but  owing  to  the  large  size  of  the  circuits,  was  not 
often  held  in  the  country  churches ;  but  in  nearly  all  the  villages 
and  towns  a  "big  meeting,"  as  it  was  called,  was  held  once  a  year. 
About  1837,  one  of  those  periodic  waves  of  religious  excitement 
began  to  roll  over  the  country,  and  shortly  after  there  was  a  reli- 
gious movement  not  so  great  as  that  of  1827,  but  still  one  of 
marked  character.     Every  Methodist  preacher  in  those  days  was 


270  History  of 

a  revivalist.  The  revivalist,  as  he  was  called,  was  at  a  premium; 
and  there  were  in  the  conference  a  number  of  most  successful  men 
in  this  kind  of  work.  James  E.  Evans  and  his  brother  William, 
John  W.  Knight,  Duncan,  Anthony,  Payne,  Crumley,  Pearce, 
Bishop  Pierce,  Key,  Arnold,  Cowart  and  Sidney  Smith  were  re- 
vivalists of  a  very  high  order,  and  success  almost  always  attended 
their  labors.  Then  as  now  there  were  different  gifts,  and  the 
men  who  were  noted  for  success  in  protracted  meetings,  and  who 
at  camp  meetings  were  in  great  demand. 

In  Oxford  Emory  College  was  located,  and  James  B.  Payne 
was  on  the  circuit.  George  W.  Lane  and  Doctor  A.  Means  were 
at  the  college,  and  there  was  a  sweeping  revival  from  which  came 
out  some  of  the  most  brilliant  men  of  the  Church.  In  Athens, 
under  G.  J.  Pearce,  there  was  a  meeting  of  remarkable  power.  In 
Covington  there  was  a  great  meeting,  and  in  all  parts  of  the  coun- 
try there  was  a  gracious  influence ;  and  the  one  great  aim  among 
all  the  ministers  was  to  bring  about  a  revival. 

Ten  years  before  this  date  the  Cherokee  Indians  had  been  re- 
moved to  the  far  West,  and  into  the  country  vacated  by  them  a 
flood  of  people  was  flowing.  The  lands  of  Northwest  Georgia 
were  very  fertile,  the  country  was  very  attractive,  and  from  all 
sections  immigrants  were  pouring  in. 

In  the  southwestern  part  of  the  State,  the  rich  planters  from 
Middle  Georgia  were  settling  plantations,  and  white  men  of  mod- 
erate means  but  of  good  character  were  being  employed  as  man- 
agers. 

It  had  become  apparent  to  thoughtful  men  that  the  colored  peo- 
ple, who  up  to  that  time  had  worshipped  in  the  same  charges  and 
houses  as  the  whites,  would  be  better  served  if  they  were  sepa- 
rated. So  they  were  encouraged  and  assisted  in  building  churches 
of  their  own  in  all  the  cities,  and  at  the  expense  of  the  Mission 
Boards  were  supplied  with  preachers.  The  preacher  to  the  colored 
people  on  the  city  station  was  often  a  young  man  of  promise 
taken  from  a  circuit  and  sent  on  a  station  where  a  year  in  one  place 
would  give  him  a  chance  for  study.  In  Savannah  there  was  An- 
drew Chapel,  and  in  other  cities  a  preacher  was  sent  on  a  colored 
mission.  It  was  a  highly  honorable  position,  and  was  quite  a  relief 
to  the  young  circuit  riders.  In  those  counties  in  which  negroes 
were  very  numerous,  there  were  separate  charges  known  as  mis- 
sions among  them,  and  the  missionary  contributions  of  the  church 
were  largely  spent  in  this  work. 

The  districts  had  only  ten  appointments  as  a  rule,  and  some 
had  not  so  many ;  but  the  circuits,  while  they  were  much  reduced 


Georgia  Methodism.  271 

in  size,  and  while  the  plan  of  Doctor  Lovick  Pierce,  which  was  to 
have  eight  appointments  in  every  charge  and  two  preachers,  was 
being  adopted  in  some  of  the  counties,  yet  the  anxiety  to  have  a 
strong  circuit  and  the  unwillingness  to  give  up  the  old  way,  pre- 
vented the  needful  reduction  of  the  number  of  appointments.  In 
the  up  country  and  in  the  newly  settled  parts  of  the  West,  from 
twenty  to  twenty-eight  appointments,  scattered  over  two  or  three 
large  counties,  was  the  rule ;  and  even  in  the  older  counties  the 
circuits  were  very  large.  The  Waynesboro  Circuit  covered  the 
whole  of  Burke  and  Richmond  Counties,  the  Washington  all  the 
large  county  of  Wilkes,  and  the  Sparta  all  of  Hancock.  The  San- 
dersville  Circuit  stretched  from  Milledgeville  to  the  upper  part  of 
Laurens.  The  churches  in  the  country  were  generally  very  un- 
comely and  discreditable.  The  old  log  church  had  given  way  per- 
haps twenty  years  before  this  time,  to  a  rough,  unattractive,  un- 
painted,  barnlike  building,  without  window  glass  or  stove.  People 
rode  in  elegant  carriages,  with  servants  in  attendance,  from  homes 
where  every  comfort  was  found  to  a  week-day  appointment  in  an 
unceiled,  unpainted  barn  which  they  called  a  church,  and  after  a 
cold  and  lifeless  service  they  had  the  circuit  preacher  to  go  to 
their  homes,  where  he  had  every  luxury  that  wealth  could  pro- 
vide. Men  with  one  hundred  slaves,  whose  income  from  cotton 
alone  amounted  to  five  thousand  dollars  per  year,  gave  ten  dollars 
per  annum  for  the  support  of  the  ministry  and  thought  they  had 
done  well. 

There  were  perhaps  as  many  hardships  to  be  endured  in  some 
parts  of  the  Georgia  territory  at  this  time  as  in  any  past  period  of 
its  history.  There  was  but  little  more  territory  to  be  taken  into 
the  work.  All  of  Georgia  was  now  mapped  out  in  circuits  and  mis- 
sions, and  henceforth  the  growth  was  to  be  from  within.  Two  re- 
mote points  in  North  Carolina,  Murphy  and  Hiawassee,  were  mis- 
sions to  which  the  preachers  went  from  the  Georgia  Conference. 
This  mountain  work  was  much  harder  then  than  now ;  but  while 
the  pay  was  scant  and  the  work  was  hard,  the  field  was  wide  and 
the  demand  for  work  was  urgent,  and  the  harvest  was  great.  This 
mountain  country  to  which  the  Georgia  Conference  had  devoted 
so  much  attention  and  upon  which  it  spent  so  much  money,  is  a 
large  section  in  the  north  and  northeastern  part  of  the  State. 
There  are  in  it  a  few  very  fertile  valleys  and  many  narrow  strips 
of  arable  land  along  the  mountain  streams,  but  the  larger  part  of 
the  country  is  sterile  and  unproductive.  The  land  was  very  cheap, 
and  in  many  places  the  settler  never  concerned  himself  about 
titles.     The  land  had  been  distributed  some  years  before  this  by 


272  History  of 

lottery,  but  many  persons  who  had  drawn  the  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  of  land  in  Gilmer  or  Union,  deterred  by  mountain 
ranges,  turned  back  to  Middle  Georgia  and  gave  the  grant  no  more 
attention.  The  better  portion  of  the  land  was  taken  by  those  who 
came  largely  from  the  mountains  of  North  Carolina  or  Tennessee, 
or  from  upper  South  Carolina,  where  there  had  been  a  settlement 
for  over  a  hundred  years.  The  valleys  were  occupied  by  bona 
fide  purchasers,  and  the  hills  and  mountains  largely  by  squatters. 
The  preachers  from  the  Holston  country  had  preached  in  this 
country  before  the  Indians  had  been  removed  to  the  West,  and 
now  the  effort  was  made  to  supply  the  white  settlers  with  the  Gos- 
pel. The  Dahlonega  Circuit,  the  Clayton,  Murphy,  Ellijay,  and 
Blairsville  missions  were  intended  to  cover  this  country,  and  John 
W.  Glenn  was  the  Presiding  Elder.  One  has  but  to  look  at  the 
map  of  the  State  to  see  what  is  necessarily  involved  in  the  effort 
to  reach  the  various  points  of  the  country.  Here  the  camp  meet- 
ings were  a  necessity,  and  perhaps  nowhere  were  they  in  greater 
favor.  They  were  just  such  gatherings  as  people  of  such  humble 
circumstances  were  likely  to  have.  They  came  in  ox  carts,  on 
foot  and  on  horseback.  They  made  booths,  they  built  small  tents 
of  one  room  of  boards  split  by  their  own  hands.  They  had  been 
for  all  the  years  cut  off  from  the  outer  world,  and  were  utterly 
ignorant  of  its  ways  and  unconcerned  about  them.  The  excite- 
ment and  confusion  found  in  the  first  meetings  in  Kentucky,  in 
the  Welch  mountains,  in  the  early  days  of  Methodism  in  York- 
shire and  Lancashire  in  the  days  of  Mr.  Berridge  and  Mr.  Wes- 
ley, were  seen  here,  and  by  these  people  regarded  as  evidences  of 
Divine  favor.  There  came  from  this  section,  however,  some  of 
the  worthiest  of  our  preachers  and  the  most  substantial  of  our 
business  men ;  and  through  this  country  were  scattered  a  few 
families  of  culture  and  refinement. 

We  have  elsewhere  seen  how  the  discovery  of  gold  had  drawn 
to  this  upper  country  large  numbers  of  settlers.  The  mines  were 
largely  in  Lumpkin  and  Habersham  Counties.  The  rudest  people 
flocked  to  the  mines,  and  with  them  came  some  of  real  culture  and 
piety.  Dahlonega,  where  there  was  a  mint,  and  near  which  num- 
erous mines  were  opened,  was  a  mountain  town  in  which  were 
found  many  excellent  families ;  and  in  the  country  round  were 
not  a  few  sections  in  which  there  were  the  best  class  of  citizens. 
In  the  beautiful  valley  of  Nacoochee,  the  home  of  the  Williams 
and  of  the  Richardsons ;  the  Tennessee  valley,  where  Doctor  H. 
V.  M.  Miller,  the  distinguished  Senator,  was  born  ;  in  Clayton, 
where  Chief  Justice  Bleckley  was  born,  and  in  lower  Habersham, 


Georgia  Methodism.  273 

where  Josiah  Askew,  the  grandfather  of  Bishop  Haygood,  had  his 
home,  there  were  some  families  who  were  intelligent  and  well-to- 
do  ;  but  the  mass  of  the  people  were  poor  and  rude. 

Cn  the  Decatur  Circuit,  at  the  terminus  of  the  then  new  line  of 
railway,  a  little  village  called  Marthasville  had  now  grown  into  the 
proportions  of  a  small  town  called  Atlanta;  and  in  it  Anderson 
Ray  and  Eustace  Speer  had  an  appointment.  The  village  grew 
very  rapidly,  but  it  grew  in  wickedness  as  rapidly  as  in  size.  In 
the  summer  of  1847,  Doctor  George  G.  Smith,  the  son  of  Isaac 
Smith,  of  whom  we  have  spoken,  removed  to  the  little  city  known 
then  as  Atlanta,  to  practice  medicine,  and  seeing  the  religious  des- 
titution of  the  then  churchless  village,  he  determined  on  a  four 
days'  meeting,  and  secured  a  warehouse,  the  first  ever  built  in  the 
city,  and  in  it  a  meeting  of  several  days  was  held.  Bishop  An- 
drew, Professor  G.  W.  Lane  and  Doctor  Means  conducted  it. 
Samuel  Walker,  a  sturdy,  good  man,  lived  a  few  miles  from  the 
village,  and  Edwin  Payne  on  its  western  border.  That  summer  a 
church  was  enterpriser!  and  begun,  and  this  was  the  beginning  of 
Methodism  in  Atlanta. 

During  the  year  1847  there  was  a  very  gracious  revival  in  the 
Sparta  Circuit.  Bishop  Pierce  says:  "In  1847  the  Reverend  C. 
W.  Key  was  on  the  Sparta  Circuit.  It  was  a  year  of  general  pros- 
perity in  the  conference.  The  revival  fire  came  down  and  settled 
upon  every  appointment.  Brother  Key  had  no  ministerial  help, 
except  when  I  got  home  from  the  districts  to  rest  a  day  or  two. 
The  whole  circuit  was  on  fire.  The  preacher  divided  his  time  out 
as  best  he  could,  but  with  all  his  zeal  he  could  be  in  but  one  place 
at  a  time.  Now  then  what?  Close  up  and  send  the  people  away, 
drive  the  dove  from  the  windows?  No!  No!  Each  church  took 
charge  of  itself.  The  brethren  went  to  work,  and  lay  labor  was 
blessed  along  with  clerical.  No  neighborhood  suffered  for  lack  of 
service." 

The  conference  of  1847  met  in  Madison,  Ga.,  in  December,  and 
admitted  on  trial  Edward  L.  Stephens,  George  W.  Craven,  James 
L.  Gibson,  J.  Blakely  Smith,  Thomas  C.  Stanley,  James  W.  Hin- 
ton,  Robert  A.  Connor,  John  W.  Twitty,  Smith  C.  Ouillian  and 
Lewis  J.  Davies. 

Edward  L.  Stephens  was  an  English  miner  from  Cornwall,  who 
had  been  a  member  of  the  class  which  William  Carvasso  led.  He 
did  not  remain  long  a  travelling  preacher.  Craven  and  Gibson 
soon  retired  from  the  conference.  Thomas  C.  Stanley  became  an 
Episcopal  clergyman.  J.  Blakeley  Smith,  who  died  in  connection 
with  the  South  Georgia  Conference  in  1870,  entered  the  confer- 


274  History  of 

ence  at  that  time.  He  was  a  man  of  commanding  person,  genu- 
ine piety  and  great  energy.  For  twenty-three  years  he  was  a  most 
efficient  worker.  He  was  a  fine  pastor  and  impressive  preacher, 
and  made  a  most  valuable  Presiding  Elder.  He  was  a  notable 
agent,  and  did  excellent  work  in  the  field  as  agent  for  the  Tract 
Society  and  for  the  Wesleyan  Female  College.  Smith  C.  Quillian 
was  a  man  of  earnest  piety  and  devotion  to  his  work,  and  of  re- 
spectable talents.  He  died  in  the  early  years  of  his  ministry. 
Robert  A.  Connor  was  long  a  superannuated  member  of  the  con- 
ference, whose  health  failed  him  in  his  early  ministry,  an  earnest, 
good  man,  long  a  colportuer  of  the  American  Bible  Society.  John 
W.  Twitty  died  while  in  the  work. 

James  W.  Hinton  was  the  last  survivor  of  this  class.  He  was 
of  an  old  Maryland  family,  from  which  James  Hinton,  one  of  the 
earliest  Methodist  preachers,  had  gone  out  into  the  itinerancy. 
He  was  an  orphan  boy,  brought  up  by  an  irreligious  grandfather. 
He  was  converted  in  his  boyhood  and  began  to  preach  while  he 
was  a  youth  of  not  twenty  years.  He  entered  the  travelling  con- 
nection before  he  was  twenty  years  of  age.  He  continued  in  it 
for  more  than  fifty  years.  He  was  a  man  of  much  more  than 
ordinary  mind,  was  exceedingly  studious,  and  became  a  man  of 
fine  cultivation.  He  was  early  a  leader  among  his  brethren. 
Noted  for  his  simplicity  of  character,  his  energy  and  his  devotion 
to  the  church,  he  was  recognized  not  only  as  a  leading  man  in  his 
conference,  but  a  leading  man  in  the  Church  South.  He  remained 
in  the  travelling  connection  as  long  as  his  strength  allowed,  then 
spent  his  last  years  as  a  superannuated  preacher. 

Lewis  J.  Davies,  the  son  of  Judge  Davies,  of  Milledgeveille, 
was  one  of  a  very  gifted  family  who  did  much  for  Methodism. 
He  was  a  man  of  most  remarkable  strength  and  originality  of 
mind,  of  great  power  in  the  pulpit,  a  fine  writer,  and  a  pure- 
hearted  Christian  gentleman.  He  was  modest,  retiring,  moody,  in 
feeble  health  much  of  the  time,  but  a  man  of  great  devotion  to 
the  work  he  had  in  hand.  He  was  very  greatly  esteemed  by 
preachers  and  people. 

The  Georgia  territory  in  the  bounds  of  the  Florida  Conference 
was  supplied  by  seven  preachers.  Simon  Peter  Richardson  was 
now  a  Presiding  Elder,  and  his  district  extended  from  Brunswick, 
in  Georgia,  to  St.  Augustine,  in  Florida,  and  from  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  to  Albany.  The  country  was  not  being  settled  rapidly,  and 
there  were  of  necessity  enormous  circuits  when  the  support  of  the 
preachers  was  very  insufficient  and  the  work  very  difficult.  The 
St.  Marys  District  embraced  a  portion  of  country  which  had  been 


Georgia  Methodism.  275 

the  first  settled  part  of  the  State.  Along  the  coast  were  sea  islands 
which  were  occupied  by  very  wealthy  planters,  who  owned  large 
numbers  of  slaves  and  large  areas  of  land.  They  were  nominally 
Episcopalians,  but  their  negroes  and  overseers  or  managers,  who 
were  oftentimes  men  of  considerable  means,  and  of  intelligence, 
were  dependent  for  religious  care  upon  the  Methodist  and  Baptist 
preachers.  The  negroes  were  almost  entirely  dependent  for  re- 
ligious instruction  upon  the  Methodist  preacher.  The  wealthy 
planter  was  often  not  unwilling  to  encourage  the  preacher  in  his 
work,  and  often  contributed  a  considerable  sum  to  his  support, 
and  hospitably  entertained  him  in  his  elegant  home. 

The  new  city  of  Griffin,  which  was  now  springing  into  vigorous 
life,  had  also  built  a  brick  church,  and  young  James  W.  Hinton, 
in  the  second  year  of  his  ministry,  was  sent  to  it. 

In  Marietta,  Charles  R.  Jewett  projected  and  had  built  a  large 
brick  church.  The  family  of  Asaph  Waterman,  of  Augusta,  of 
whom  we  have  so  frequently  spoken,  was  now  living  in  the  village. 
The  good  widow  who  was  a  sister  of  Stephen  Olin's  first  wife, 
was  a  devout  and  liberal  Methodist ;  and  as  they  were  possessed 
of  considerable  wealth  they  gave  liberally,  and  so  a  handsome 
church  for  those  times  was  erected. 

Jesse  Boring,  to  whom  we  have  alluded  as  joining  the  confer- 
ence in  1824,  after  some  years  of  efficient  work  in  Georgia,  had 
located  on  account  of  feeble  health,  studied  medicine  and  settled 
in  Alabama ;  but  while  deeply  in  love  with  his  noble  profession,  he 
was  never  able  to  give  up  his  attachment  to  the  more  congenial 
work  of  preaching;  so  he  returned  to  the  conference,  and  after 
serving  a  few  appointments  in  that  State  came  back  to  Georgia. 
Afterwards  he  was  selected  as  Missionary  Superintendent  for 
California,  and  after  some  years  there,  returned  to  Georgia  again ; 
thence  he  went  to  Texas,  and  thence  back  to  his  old  home,  where, 
having  passed  his  four  score  years,  he  entered  into  rest. 

Doctor  Boring  was  a  most  remarkable  man.  Without  early 
advantages,  with  no  help  from  the  schools,  he  became  not  only  a 
cultivated  man.  but  one  who  in  refinement  of  culture  and  exnuisite 
taste,  was  not  surpassed  by  those  who  have  had  careful  discipline 
from  the  best  of  teachers.  He  was  wonderfully  and  thrillingly 
eloquent.  He  was  never  dull  or  lifeless,  never  boisterous,  never 
extravagant ;  but  he  was  intensely  in  earnest  and  threw  all  the 
ardour  of  his  soul  into  his  utterances.  A  high-toned,  scholarly 
gentleman,  he  numbered  among  his  friends  the  choice  people  of 
the  land.  He  strangely  enough  never  declined  in  preaching  power, 
but  at  eighty,  blind  and  lame,  his  voice  was  clear  and  his  thought 


276  History  of 

as  connected  as  in  the  days  of  his  early  youth.  His  last  great 
work  was  to  set  in  motion  the  system  of  Orphan  Homes  conducted 
by  the  conferences.  He  was  the  originator  of  the  scheme  and  the 
first  agent  of  the  North  Georgia  Home.  He  died  not  far  from 
where  he  was  born,  when  he  was  over  eighty. 

The  conference  of  1849  met  January  10.  There  were  admitted 
on  trial :  fames  M.  Ainslie,  Alexander  Averitt,  Thomes  A.  Bell, 
John  M.  Bright,  Josiah  H.  Clark,  Michael  A.  Clontz,  W.  R. 
Foote,  Albert  Gray,  Theophilus  Harwell,  James  F.  Johnson,  Jos. 
S.  Key,  William  E.  Lacey,  Harvey  McHan,  Daniel  J.  Myrick, 
Newdaygate  B.  Ousley,  John  C.  Simmons,  Alford  B.  Smith, 
Charles  W.  Thomas,  William  H.  Thomas  and  Alexander  M. 
Wynn.  This  was  a  very  large  class,  and  in  it  were  several  men 
who  were  to  do  the  church  great  service,  a  number  who  dropped 
out  early,  and  some  who  died  before  they  had  been  able  to  do 
much  work. 

Joseph  Stanton  Key  joined  the  conference  this  year.  He  was  a 
son  of  the  Reverend  Caleb  W.  Key,  of  whom  we  have  spoken 
elsewhere.  He  was  a  young  man  of  very  fine,  strong  mind,  beauti- 
ful manners  and  deep  piety.  He  was  sent  to  Athens  to  assist  Doc- 
tor Boring.  Early  in  the  year  Doctor  Boring  was  sent  to  Cali- 
fornia, and  young  Key  was  left  in  charge.  He  became  very  popu- 
lar as  a  preacher  and  pastor,  and  rose  to  be  early  one  of  the  lead- 
ers in  his  conference.  He  had  been  always  a  sincere  man,  of  un- 
questioned piety,  who  had  received  as  true  the  teachings  of  entire 
sanctification  he  found  among  the  Methodists ;  but  only  after  the 
death  of  his  gifted  son.  Reverend  Benjamin  Key,  did  he  look  into 
the  view  of  this  experience  presented  by  Doctor  J.  A.  Wood  and 
Doctor  Inskip.  He  accepted  their  teaching,  sought  the  experience, 
and  very  modestly  professed  to  have  entered  into  it.  He  was 
never  an  extremist,  never  a  zealot,  but  was  positive  in  his  profes- 
sions. He  was  elected  a  Bishop  in  Richmond,  and  has  proven 
himself  by  his  zeal  and  labor  a  worthy  successor  of  the  Apostles. 
IK-  ^-till  lives  (1Q12)  in  honored  old  age,  active  in  his  work. 

Michael  A.  Clontz,  of  German  origin,  a  man  of  strong  mind  and 
strong  will,  but  of  little  education,  after  some  years  of  efficient 
work  among  the  Methodists,  united  with  the  Baptists. 

W.  R.  Foote,  a  New  England  man  of  fine  talents  and  of  genu- 
ine culture,  but  unpretentious  and  retiring,  came  to  the  conference 
this  year,  and  was  placed  with  James  Tones  on  the  Wavnesboro 
Circuit.  During  the  year  he  married  the  daughter  of  his  co1league. 
He  was  early  elected  a  professor  in  the  Madison  Female  College, 
and  was  an  exact  and  competent  teacher.    He  served  a  number  of 


Georgia  Methodism.  279 

appointments,  and  served  them  well,  then  settled  his  family  near 
Atlanta,  where  he  died.  He  was  a  most  admirable  man,  of  fine 
mind  and  pure  heart.  Reverend  W.  R.  Foote,  of  the  North  Geor- 
gia Conference,  is  his  son. 

Albert  Gray  graduated  at  Emory  College,  and  at  once  entered 
into  the  work  of  the  ministry,  in  which  he  died  when  in  the  vigor 
of  his  mature  manhood.  He  was  one  of  the  most  spotless  of  men. 
He  brought  with  him  into  the  conference  a  handsome  estate,  which 
with  his  time  and  talents  he  gave  to  the  church.  One  of  his  sons 
is  a  member  of  the  North  Georgia  Conference,  and  another  a 
missionary  in  Mexico.  He  was  a  plain,  unassuming,  unambitious 
man,  who,  without  brilliant  gifts,  had  what  was  better,  strong 
sense  and  pure  principles. 

Alexander  MacFarlane  Wynn,  the  only  son  of  Thomas  Lemuel 
Wynn,  a  travelling  preacher  and  a  grandson  of  Alexander  Mac- 
Farlane, a  local  preacher  in  Charleston,  was  left  an  orphan  at  an 
early  age,  and  was  adopted  and  brought  up  by  Bishop  Andrew, 
who  had  married  his  aunt.  He  was  educated  in  Oxford,  and  soon 
after  his  graduation  entered  the  conference  and  was  sent  on  the 
Decatur  Circuit.  He  volunteered  to  go  with  Doctor  Boring  to 
California,  and  went  with  him  in  1849.  He  had  married  a  most 
excellent  young  woman,  Miss  Maria  Howard,  of  Columbus,  who 
went  with  him  to  the  then  new  territory.  He  did  most  efficient 
work  there,  and  being  selected  as  a  delegate  to  the  General  Con- 
ference in  1854,  he  came  back  to  Georgia.  On  his  return  trip  he 
was  taken  violently  ill  and  forced  to  return  to  Georgia  from  Ha- 
vana. He  was  never  able  to  go  to  California  again,  and  remained 
in  Georgia.  He  was  very  frail,  but  very  energetic  and  successful. 
He  became  one  of  the  most  useful  and  popular  pastors  in  the  con- 
ference. He  was  appointed  to  leading  charges,  and  always  re- 
mained his  full  time.  He  was  more  than  once  returned  a  second, 
once  a  third  time,  to  the  same  charges.  He  was  married  to  a 
daughter  of  General  Howard,  of  Columbus,  who  was  his  most 
efficient  colaborer  for  nearly  fifty  years.  He  worked  on  till  he 
fell  in  the  pulpit,  and  then  retired  to  the  ranks  of  the  supernum- 
eraries, and  died  at  a  good  old  age. 

No  man  has  been  more  useful  and  none  more  beloved  than  he 
was  during  his  entire  life.  He  was  greatly  valued  by  his  brethren, 
and  was  placed  in  many  positions  of  trust  and  responsibility,  and 
filled  them  all  with  remarkable  efficiency. 

Theophilus  S.  Harwell  who  rounded  up  nearly  fifty  years  in 
the  ministry,  was  of  good  old  Methodist  lineage.  He  was  con- 
verted in  LaGrange  and  joined  the  conference  in  early  manhood. 


280  History  of 

Without  any  very  high  order  of  talents,  or  any  great  breadth  of 
culture,  but  a  careful,  painstaking,  upright  man,  he  went  on  his 
way  until  the  infirmities  of  age  drove  him  to  a  cheerful  retire- 
ment.   He  died  suddenly  of  heart  disease  in  1895. 

Daniel  J.  Myrick  was  of  excellent  family,  but  deprived  by  the 
early  death  of  his  father  of  advantages,  he  came  into  the  confer- 
ence an  uneducated  boy  of  eighteen  years,  but  gifted  and  studious, 
he  made  himself  a  scholar.  He  was  all  his  life  a  student  and  a 
controvertist.  Where  any  Methodist  doctrine  was  assailed,  he 
was  always  ready  to  rush  to  its  defense.  He  has  been  remarkably 
able  in  the  Baptismal  controversy.  His  character  was  spotless, 
and  for  long  years  no  man  has  had  more  entirely  the  confidence 
of  his  brethren. 

John  C.  Simmons,  Jr.,  son  of  John  Simmons,  belongs  to  Cali- 
fornia, where  he  spent  long  and  useful  years,  and  to  whose  interest 
he  dedicated  his  young  life.  He  came  from  Emory,  a  pure,  good 
youth,  and  joining  the  conference  was  sent  to  the  Elberton  Cir- 
cuit in  the  northeast,  and  the  next  year  to  a  circuit  in  the  extreme 
southwest.  He  volunteered  at  the  close  of  the  year  to  go  to  Cali- 
fornia, and  left  Georgia  for  that  territory.  He  made  California 
his  lifelong  home.  He  made  an  impress  there  such  as  few  men 
have  made.  He  only  came  East  occasionally,  and  after  nearly 
sixty  years  of  service  in  his  adopted  State,  in  1906,  he  passed  to 
his  reward. 

Charles  W.  Thomas  was  an  Englishman  and  had  a  somewhat 
romantic  history.  His  father  was  a  naval  officer  and  of  the 
Church  of  England.  His  mother  was  a  Wesleyan.  He  was  placed 
by  his  father  in  a  naval  school,  but  ran  away  and  as  a  common 
sailor  came  to  Savannah,  Georgia.  Here  penniless,  unknown  and 
friendless,  he  sought  for  converting  grace  and  became  a  genuine 
Christian  and  joined  the  Methodist  Church.  He  had  learned  to 
paint  in  England  as  an  accomplishment,  and  he  now  used  his 
knowledge  of  the  art  to  secure  a  livelihood.  As  a  journeyman 
painter,  he  drifted  to  Cobb  County,  and  there  he  was  licensed  to 
preach  and  joined  the  conference.  He  was  an  intelligent,  fastidi- 
ous gentleman,  who  knew  little  of  American  ways  and  of  the 
rural  people  among  whom  he  was  thrown,  so  he  never  became  a 
popular  preacher.  After  a  few  years  he  went  into  naval  service 
of  the  United  States  as  chaplain.  After  his  term  of  service  was 
out,  he  went  into  the  Episcopal  Church  and  was  ordained  a  priest. 
He  was  an  evangelical  in  his  views  to  the  last.  With  his  life  after 
he  severed  his  connection  with  the  Methodists  this  history  has 
nothing  to  do.     He  was  always  a  friend  to  the  Methodists,  and 


Georgia  Methodism.  281 

enjoyed  to  the  last  attendance  upon  their  great  religious  festivals 
at  camp  meetings  and  was  always  regarded  by  them  with  kindness. 
W.  H.  Thomas,  of  an  excellent  Georgia  family,  came  to  us  when 
a  mature  man,  from  the  mountains  of  upper  Georgia.  He  was 
called  "Singing  Billy,"  because  of  the  wonderful  variety  and 
sweetness  of  his  songs.  He  was  placed  always  on  the  frontier, 
and  while  claiming  little  for  himself,  he  worked  faithfully  for  the 
Church.  He  believed  with  all  his  heart  the  Wesleyan  doctrine  of 
entire  sanctification,  and  was  a  good  example  of  the  beauty  of  a 
life  of  entire  consecration.  He  lived  to  be  the  oldest  man  in  his 
conference;  but  his  clear,  sweet  voice  was  with  him  to  the  last, 
and  in  the  conference  love  feasts  he  was  always  called  on  to  sing 
one  of  the  old  melodies  of  Methodism.  He  had  a  little  home  in 
the  new  city  of  Waycross,  in  which  he  had  settled  when  it  was  a 
hamlet  in  the  woods,  and  from  it  he  peacefully  passed  away. 


CHAPTER  II. 
1850-1855. 

There  was  no  conference  in  December  of  1849,  and  the  next 
yearly  conference  began  in  January  of  1850.  I  have,  in  absence 
of  any  well  defined  lines  of  division  chosen  periods  of  five  years 
as  likely  at  that  time  to  bring  out  any  decided  changes  in  the  work, 
and  begin  this  chapter  with  the  first  conference  held  north  of  the 
Chattahoochee  River,  and  the  first  ever  held  in  Marietta.  This 
conference  met  in  January,  1850,  and  there  were  admitted  on  trial : 
James  M.  Dickey,  William  H.  C.  Cone,  William  N.  Fambrough, 
William  Pope  Harrison,  Richard  J.  Harwell,  Thomas  H.  Jordan, 
Jesse  R.  Littlejohn,  Whitman  C.  McGuffey,  William  T.  Norman, 
Harwell  H.  Parks,  John  E.  Sentell,  Thomas  H.  Stewart,  and  John 
Strickland.  Of  these,  only  three  dropped  out  of  the  conference 
roll. 

James  M.  Dickey  was  a  poor,  uncultivated  boy  in  the  mountains 
of  Georgia.  He  was  full  of  life  and  humor  and  good  sense.  He 
was  genuinely  converted  and  felt  called  to  preach,  and  uneducated 
as  he  was,  entered  the  conference.  He  was  natively  an  orator, 
and  being  very  quick  and  bright,  he  soon  became  a  popular,  useful 
preacher.  He  was  very  genial  and  very  useful,  and  rose  to  high 
place  in  his  conference. 

Atlanta  was  now  able  to  stand  alone,  and  Silas  H.  Cooper  was 
sent  to  the  new  city  as  a  stationed  preacher.  He  was  a  man  of 
very  moderate  abilities  and  was  indiscreet  in  some  conduct.  He 
left  the  station  before  the  year  was  out,  and  James  L.  Pierce,  who 
had  been  transferred  from  Alabama  to  Georgia,  was  placed  in 
charge.  He  was  one  of  the  sons  of  Doctor  Lovick  Pierce,  and  had 
graduated  at  Randolph  Macon  in  Virginia.  He  was  a  man  of  re- 
markably fine  mind,  and  of  broad  cultivation,  but  was  very  calm 
and  unimpassioned  in  delivery.  Spending  a  large  part  of  his  life 
in  the  professor's  chair,  for  which  he  was  eminently  suited,  he 
only  gave  himself  to  the  pastorate  in  the  last  years  of  his  life,  and 
then  preached  with  great  fervor  and  power.  He  was  a  gentleman 
of  delicate  feelings,  a  scholar  of  broad  attainments,  and  withal  a 
simple-hearted,  earnest  Christian.  He  died  in  Texas,  whither  he 
had  gone  to  visit  his  sons.  Doctor  Thomas  R.  Pierce,  then  editor 
of  the  Texas  Advocate,  and  Reverend  James  F.  Pierce,  of  the 
North  Texas  Conference. 

William  Pope  Harrison,  a  young  printer,  who  joined  the  con- 


Georgia  Methodism.  283 

ference  in  Marietta  at  this  time,  was  in  many  respects  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  men  Georgia  has  ever  produced.  He  was  son  of 
a  poor  printer  and  had  few  advantages  for  securing  an  advanced 
education,  but  he  had  great  ambition  to  be  a  scholar  and  rapidly- 
improved  the  few  opportunities  he  had  to  become  a  scholar.  He 
entered  the  conference  and  soon  evinced  the  fact  that  he  was  a 
young  man  of  fine  parts ;  but  during  his  first  year  in  the  ministry 
he  married  and  discontinued  his  connection  with  the  conference. 
He  went  to  Alabama  and  joined  the  Alabama  Conference.  He 
gave  himself  to  hard  study  and  secured  a  good  knowledge  of 
Latin,  Greek,  French,  Hebrew,  and  a  number  of  Oriental  lan- 
guages and  became  one  of  the  most  learned  of  preachers.  He  soon 
rose  to  the  first  place  among  preachers,  and  wrote  a  number  of 
books,  some  of  them  showing  a  very  great  amount  of  research. 
He  was  editor  of  The  Quarterly  Review,  and  was  at  one  time 
chaplain  to  Congress.  He  was  stationed  in  Washington  City,  At- 
lanta, Columbus,  and  travelled  large  districts.  He  secured  a  mag- 
nificent library  of  rare  books,  and  lived  among  them.  He  was  a 
man  of  great  sweetness  of  temper  and  grace  of  manner,  and 
gained  the  love  of  all  people  among  whom  he  was  thrown.  He 
died  at  a  comparatively  early  age,  in  Columbus.  Georgia. 

Few  men  could  have  contrasted  more  strongly  with  the  printer 
boy  who  came  with  him  into  the  conference  and  became  the  fa- 
mous author  and  scholar,  than  Richard  J.  Harwell,  twin  brother 
of  Theophilus,  and  known  in  aftertime  as  "Uncle  Dick."  He 
came  of  excellent  family  and  was  pious  from  his  childhood.  He 
had  very  moderate  culture,  and  never  was  a  reading  man.  He  had 
no  tact  or  diplomacy ;  guileless  as  a  child ;  perfect  in  his  faith  as 
an  apostle  ;  fearless  of  men  ;  and  devoted  to  duty — he  was  but  little 
fitted  to  make  his  way  among  men.  He  was  a  man  of  perfect 
purity  of  aim,  and  while  he  was  in  the  world,  he  was  not  of  it. 
He  preached  like  no  other  man — in  matter  and  manner  he  was 
purely  original.  He  did  not  describe  things — he  painted  them,  and 
the  vividness  of  his  pictures  was  as  brilliant  as  it  was  unique.  He 
never  knew  why  the  world  he  loved  so  well  and  labored  so  hard 
and  so  unselfishly  to  bless,  never  seemed  to  value  him ;  but  he 
never  grew  sour  nor  complained  of  the  fact — and  perhaps,  in  his 
innocense,  did  not  recognize  it.  After  the  death  of  his  lovely  wife 
and  noble  boy,  he  went  from  place  to  place  in  his  buggy  to  preach 
and  pray  and  sing.  He  heard  his  twin  brother,  Theophilus,  was 
ill,  and  hastened  to  his  bedside.  The  brother  left  him,  and  soon 
the  lonely  old  man  heard  gladly  his  call  to  the  skies  and  went 
thither. 


284  History  of 

Thomas  H.  Jordan,  the  son  of  a  wealthy  and  pious  father,  an 
elegant  gentleman,  of  good  mind  and  gentle  heart,  came  now  into 
the  conference  to  spend  a  few  years.  He  was  a  brilliant  young 
man,  and  married  into  an  excellent  family  in  Savannah;  was  a 
while  chaplain  in  the  Army,  and  taken  suddenly  ill  he  passed  away. 

William  T.  Norman,  who  joined  the  conference,  was  a  steady- 
going,  unpretentious,  consistent  man  of  no  special  brilliance,  but 
so  faithful  and  devoted  to  his  work  that  he  was  always  highly 
valued.  Having  a  home  of  his  own  in  Elbert  and  having  some 
means,  he  was  able  to  do  much  hard  work  for  small  pay.  He  con- 
tinued in  his  work  longer  than  any  of  his  class. 

Harwell  H.  Parks,  the  son  of  William  J.  Parks  so  noted  in 
Georgia  Methodism,  began  his  life  work  this  year  and  ended  it 
forty-five  years  afterward  in  Atlanta.  He  was  long  a  leader  in 
the  Georgia  Conference,  noted  for  his  strong  common  sense  and 
straightforwardness,  and  his  success  in  winning  souls.  He  pre- 
pared for  the  pulpit  with  great  care,  writing  every  sermon  in 
extenso,  and  carrying  full  notes  into  the  pulpit,  but  was  a  most 
effective  preacher.  He  had  no  use  for  speculations  or  abstrac- 
tions, but  was  eminently  practical.  He  was  on  the  best  stations 
and  largest  districts,  and  no  work  ever  suffered  at  his  hands.  His 
influence  on  the  conference  floor,  as  had  been  that  of  his  father, 
was  very  great.  It  was  rare  for  his  brethren  to  go  against  his 
will. 

John  E.  Sentell  was  a  very  quiet,  unpretending,  but  patient  and 
earnest  worker,  who  did  as  much  hard  work  and  received  as 
little  earthly  reward  for  it  as  any  man  in  the  conference.  He  did 
good  work  and  did  it  cheerfully. 

John  Strickland  was  a  steady,  young,  brusque,  earnest,  good 
man  of  moderate  gifts,  but  of  great  zeal,  who  did  good  work  in 
very  hard  fields. 

There  were  two  conferences  in  1851,  one  in  January  and  one  in 
December. 

In  January,  at  the  conference  in  Savannah,  Robert  F.  Jones, 
Franklin  L.  Brantley,  William  Potts,  John  H.  Harris,  John  H. 
Mashburn,  John  H.  Grogan,  Lewis  B.  Payne,  James  W.  Trawick, 
Jacob  R.  Owen,  Edmund  P.  Birch,  and  J.  W.  Perry,  were  ad- 
mitted on  trial.  Of  these,  the  larger  number  remained  in  the 
conference  as  long  as  they  lived. 

Lewis  B.  Payne  was  a  mountain  boy  from  Walker  County.  He 
entered  the  conference  when  a  young  man,  and  continued  his  con- 
nection with  it  until  his  death,  over  fifty  years  afterward.  He 
was,  as  long  as  his  health  permitted,  very  active  and  useful.     He 


Georgia  Methodism.  285 

was  selected  as  agent  for  the  Orphans'  Home  when  it  was  in  sore 
extremity,  and  succeeded  not  only  in  extricating  it  from  its  em- 
barrassment, but  in  securing  for  it  a  considerable  endowment.  He 
was  a  fine  business  man,  a  pathetic  and  popular  preacher,  and  did 
much  good  work  for  the  Church  as  a  Presiding  Elder  in  needy 
fields,  before  he  became  connected  with  the  Orphans'  Home. 

James  W.  Trawick  spent  a  few  years  in  the  ministry  and  then 
located.    He  was  a  man  of  fine  sense  and  a  popular  preacher. 

Jacob  R.  Owen  was  for  the  large  part  of  his  conference  life 
prevented  from  active  work  by  physical  disability.  He  was  for 
years  a  merchant  and  a  liberal  supporter  and  faithful  friend  of 
the  Church.    He  gave  his  last  years  to  conference  work. 

Edmund  P.  Birch  was  a  man  of  unusually  bright  mind,  who  was 
a  popular  preacher  in  Georgia  for  some  years  and  transferred  to 
Alabama,  in  which  conference  he  died. 

John  H.  Grogan  was  born  in  the  mountains  and  converted  in  a 
country  church  in  Lumpkin  County.  He  entered  the  conference, 
travelled  for  some  years,  and  was  very  useful  and  highly  esteemed. 
During  the  war  he  was  in  Elbert  County  on  the  circuit.  After  the 
war  was  over,  he  thought  it  best  to  locate,  but  he  never  lost  his 
interest  in  the  Church.  He  was  a  fine  business  man,  and  made 
money  which  he  used  liberally  for  the  support  of  the  Church.  He 
was  generally  a  lay  member  of  the  annual  conference,  and  some- 
times of  the  General.  He  was  a  man  of  fine  sense,  pleasing  man- 
ners, and  of  unquestioned  purity. 

Robert  F.  Jones  was  the  son  of  Reverend  James  Jones,  a 
worthy  man ;  a  graduate  of  Emory  College  and  a  faithful  worker 
in  every  field  to  which  he  was  assigned. 

John  H.  Mashburn  was  a  sturdy  man  of  genuine  force  of  char- 
acter, who  did  very  hard  work  on  very  hard  fields. 

John  H.  Harris  was  a  man  of  considerable  cultivation  for  the 
times  in  which  he  was  reared ;  an  excellent  preacher,  and  a  worthy 
man  in  all  respects. 

Benjamin  W.  Perry  died  early.  He  was  a  young  man  of  deep 
piety  and  good  promise. 

This  is  perhaps  the  place  to  take  a  survey  of  the  larger  circuits 
of  Georgia,  as  they  were  at  this  time.  It  was  a  period  of  transi-' 
tion  from  the  old  to  the  new.  One  circuit,  however,  of  Middle 
Georgia  will  represent  all.  The  Burke  Circuit  was  one  of  the  first 
formed  in  Georgia.  It  extended  from  above  Augusta  to  the  center 
of  what  is  now  Bulloch  County.  Hull,  Randle,  Mathew  Harris, 
John  Andrew  had    all  served  it.    Bishop   Asbury    often   passed 


286  History  of 

through  it  and  spoke  at  Waynesboro,  Coxes,  Old  Church. 
Churches  were  scattered  well  over  the  county,  but  they  were  very 
mean,  uncomfortable  houses.  There  was  much  wealth  in  the  mem- 
bership and  much  elegance  in  private  life.  The  parsonage  was  a 
plain,  unpainted  building  in  the  village  of  Brothersville.  The  salary 
was  shamefully  small.  There  was  as  much  given  to  the  preacher 
often  as  he  received  as  allowance.  The  Old  Church  where  the 
camp  ground  was,  was  wretchedly  decayed.  In  Waynesboro, 
there  was  an  old  hull  of  a  church  out  of  the  inhabited  part  of  the 
village,  and  in  the  little  hamlet  only  a  few  persons — Edward  Gar- 
lick  among  them — who  were  Methodists ;  but  this  year  a  great 
change  passed  over  the  work.  The  circuit  was  divided ;  a  new 
church  was  built  at  Old  Church ;  a  handsome  one  near  old  Coxes 
called  Coker  Chapel ;  a  large  and  comfortable  one  in  the  remote 
southeast  called  Bethany;  a  beautiful  country  church  at  Fair 
Haven  in  the  southwest  of  the  county ;  and  through  the  agency  of 
Honorable  J.  J.  Jones,  a  neat  church  at  Waynesboro.  A  parson- 
age was  built  at  Alexander ;  two  preachers  and  a  missionary  were 
sent  to  the  Burke  Circuit,  and  everything  began  to  move  forward. 
This  picture  of  one  of  the  Middle  Georgia  Circuits  is  to  a  large 
degree  true  to  all  of  them.  The  circuits  in  the  hill  country  and  the 
mountains  were  still  very  large.  The  preacher  in  charge  preached 
nearly  every  day  in  the  week.  The  rides  were  long,  the  support 
meager,  and  the  fare  hard. 

In  the  cities  there  was  a  spirit  of  improvement.  Augusta  fin- 
ished a  new  church.  Wesley  Chapel  in  Savannah  was  supplement- 
ed by  a  new  church,  Trinity.  St.  Luke's  in  Columbus  completed  a 
handsome  church,  and  the  new  Mulberry  Street  church  in  Macon, 
large,  commodious  and  elegant,  had  been  opened  for  worship. 

There  were  but  few  stations.  Savannah,  Augusta,  Macon,  Co- 
lumbus, LaGrange,  Milledgeville,  Washington,  Marietta,  Rome 
were  all.  The  rest  of  the  conference  was  divided  into  missions 
and  circuits. 

During  this  period  the  first  General  Conference  of  the  M.  E. 
Church,  South,  had  been  held  in  Petersburg  in  May,  1846.  It  had 
little  more  to  do  than  to  adjust  the  church  machinery  to  the  new 
state  of  things.  Bishop  Soule  had  adhered  to  the  South,  and 
Bishop  Andrew  and  he  were  the  only  Bishops.  These  two  were 
now  reinforced  by  Doctor  Robert  Paine  and  Doctor  William  Ca- 
pers, the  one  from  Mississippi,  the  other  from  South  Carolina. 
There  had  been  no  interruption  in  the  church's  progress  during 
the  five  years  since  the  Church  South  was  organized. 


Georgia  Methodism.  287 

The  Church  was  advancing  on  all  lines,  but  in  nothing  was 
there  a  more  decided  improvement  than  in  Sunday  school  work. 
The  oldest  Sunday  school  in  Georgia  which  has  had  a  continuous 
existence  was  the  Piney  Grove  Sunday  school  in  Lincoln  County, 
which  was  established  in  1818,  and  had  one  superintendent,  Wil- 
liam Hardy,  for  over  fifty  years.  The  first  established  in  Georgia 
had  been  established  by  John  Andrew  in  Wilkes  County  in  1792, 
for  the  negroes.  The  first  village  school  was  established  by  Sam- 
uel M.  Meek  in  Milledgeville  in  181 1.  The  Sunday  school  was 
not  looked  upon  as  a  possibility  in  the  country  churches,  and  only 
in  rare  instances  was  one  established.  Bishop  Andrew,  always  a 
great  friend  of  Sunday  schools,  had  as  early  as  1831,  introduced 
into  the  Georgia  Conference  resolutions  calling  attention  to  their 
importance  and  advising  the  appointment  of  an  agent  to  secure 
their  establishment.  Now  in  nearly  all  the  villages  and  cities  there 
were  Sunday  schools.  The  free  school  was  not  then  in  existence 
in  Georgia,  and  there  were  many  children  who  could  not  read,  and 
the  first  object  of  the  Sunday  school  was  to  secure  to  these  the 
elements  of  an  education.  So  the  primer  and  the  spelling  book 
had  an  important  place  in  nearly  all  the  schools.  Bishop  Capers 
had  prepared  an  elementary  catechism  which  was  largely  used,  but 
the  main  reliance  was  upon  the  Sunday  School  Union  of  Phila- 
delphia, which  furnished  the  Scripture  Question  Books  and  the 
Union  Question  Books.  It  was  sometime  after  this  before  a 
child's  paper  was  started  in  Charleston,  and  the  little  people  were 
dependent  upon  the  circulating  libraries,  published  by  Lane  & 
Tippett,  or  by  the  Sunday  School  Union.  These  cheap  libraries, 
costing  from  $10  to  $20  for  a  hundred  volumes,  were  of  immense 
value  to  the  young  people.  There  was  a  growing  interest  in  this 
matter,  and  the  question  as  to  how  much  had  been  expended  for 
Sunday  schools  became  of  some  interest. 

The  claims  of  the  Superannuated  Preachers  and  the  widows 
and  orphans  on  the  Book  Concern  of  the  M.  E.  Church  was  of 
course  cut  off  by  the  change  in  affairs,  but  the  call  upon  all  the 
people  to  supply  deficiency  and  to  provide  for  the  four  Bishops 
evinced  their  willingness  and  their  ability,  for  the  fund  amounted 
to  more  when  there  was  no  other  reliance  than  they  had  done 
before  with  the  Book  Concern  to  help.  There  was  as  yet  no  dis- 
crimination between  the  claimants  and  while  the  amount  dis- 
tributed was  not  large,  yet  it  was  larger  than  it  had  been  under 
the  other  system. 

There  was  as  yet  no  foreign  mission.    The  work  at  home  among 


288 


History  of 


the  poor  white  people,  the  Indians  and  the  negroes,  called  for  all 
the  men  and  money  that  could  be  secured,  and  the  most  earnest 
efforts  were  made  to  meet  all  the  demands  of  these  needy  ones 
at  our  own  doors.  The  collections  for  missions  grew  very  rapidly 
and  became  for  those  days  very  respectable.  True,  most  of  this 
was  spent  where  it  was  collected,  and  there  was  some  complaint 
that  the  contribution  of  the  planter  went  to  pay  the  missionary  to 
his  own  slaves.  There  was  no  longer  the  attempt  to  teach  the 
negroes  with  the  care  that  Dr.  Capers  had  advised,  but  they  were 
well  cared  for  and  preached  to  by  the  missionary  who  visited 
several  large  plantations  on  each  Sunday  or  who  called  them 
together  for  service  in  some  central  church.  Where  there  was 
no  missionary,  the  circuit  preacher  gave  the  colored  people  the 
church  of  the  whites,  at  three  o'clock  on  Sunday,  and  in  all  the 
larger  churches  there  was  a  gallery  for  their  use.  In  the  large 
cities  this  gallery  was  oftentime  filled  with  intelligent,  well  dressed 
slaves  and  free  negroes. 

The  Southern  Christian  Advocate  was  now  in  charge  of  the 
classic  Wightman,  and  was  the  constant  visitor  to  many  homes  in 
Georgia,  as  well  as  in  South  and  North  Carolina,  Alabama  and 
Florida.  The  colleges,  of  which  we  have  spoken  elsewhere,  were 
in  prosperous  condition,  and  especially  was  there  much  interest 
aroused  in  the  question  of  female  education.  In  Madison,  in 
Cuthbert,  in  LaGrange.  female  colleges  with  a  full  faculty  were 
established,  as  well  as  in  Macon,  where  the  oldest  of  the  colleges 
was  located.  Emory  was  the  only  male  college  and  was  now 
doing  admirable  work. 

Southwestern  Georgia  was  increasing  very  rapidly  in  popula- 
tion, and  the  great  Columbus  District  which  covered  so  large  a 
part  of  it  was  now  divided,  and  the  Lumpkin  District,  in  charge 
of  Walter  Knox,  was  cut  off  from  it.  Walter  Knox,  the  Presiding 
Elder,  had  now  been  a  traveling  preacher  for  ten  years.  He 
was  at  this  time  an  unmarried  man  of  near  forty  years.  He  had 
been  converted  as  a  child  and  was  remarkable  for  the  purity  of 
his  life.  He  was  a  man  of  unattractive  presence — tall,  ungainly, 
slow  in  movement ;  but  he  was  a  man  of  rare  good  sense  and 
of  extensive  attainments.  He  wrote  with  great  clearness  and 
force,  and  his  preaching  was  always  to  edification.  He  was  a 
most  faithful  and  competent  Presiding  Elder  and  was  highly 
esteemed  as  a  stationed  preacher  in  the  charges  which  he  served. 

The  new  district  of  which  he  was  placed  in  charge  was  a  small 
one  in  the  number  of  its  charges,  but  a  very  large  one  as  far  as 


Georgia  Methodism.  289 

territory  was  concerned.  It  embraced  all  that  part  of  the  Colum- 
bus District  which  was  south  of  Lumpkin  and  extended  to  the 
line  of  the  Florida  Conference. 

The  Conference  met  in  Griffin,  December  24,  1851,  and  re- 
mained in  session  seven  days.  The  class  admitted  was  not  a 
large  one.  There  were  only  eleven,  several  of  whom  were  dis- 
continued at  the  next  Conference. 

W.  F.  Conley,  a  man  of  moderate  gifts  but  of  great  piety  and 
zeal,  after  serving  the  church  in  many  very  hard  fields  as  an  active 
itinerant,  died  a  superannuated  preacher.  He  was  of  the  old 
type.  Simple,  artless,  and  pleasant  in  manner,  he  was  admirably 
adapted  to  the  work  among  the  humblest  of  our  rural  people, 
to  which  he  was  assigned.  He  gathered  a  great  many  into  the 
church  and  did  much  to  establish  Methodism  in  the  then  isolated 
wiregrass  country,  where  he  had  a  home  of  his  own.  One  of 
his  sons  succeeded  him  in  his  work  in  the  South  Georgia  Con- 
ference. 

Lemuel  T.  Allen  was  a  man  of  small  gifts  and  limited  attain- 
ments, but  of  deep  piety  and  devotion  to  the  work.  He  was  never 
strong  and  was  attacked  with  a  virulent  cancer,  and  died  com- 
paratively young. 

There  was  still  advance  in  all  parts  of  the  work.  During  this 
year  it  had  been  remarkable.  There  was  an  increase  of  nearly 
4,000  members,  and  the  missionary  collection  rose  to  nearly  $18,- 
000,  while  the  collection  for  the  American  Bible  Society,  which 
included  what  was  given  by  members  of  other  churches  through 
the  agent,  amounted  to  over  $5,000.  In  every  direction  the  work 
advanced,  but  especially  in  the  northern  part  of  the  State  and  in 
the  wiregrass  country  and  the  Southwest. 

The  districts  were  manned  with  strong  men,  and  the  charges 
were  well  furnished  with  acceptable  preachers. 

Joshua  G.  Payne  was  the  son  of  James  B.  Payne.  He  was 
a  graduate  of  Emory  College — a  young  man  of  the  deepest  piety. 
He  had  fine  gifts  and  was  destined  to  great  usefulness ;  but  being 
in  Savannah  in  1854,  during  the  yellow  fever  epidemic,  and  stay- 
ing at  his  post,  he  died  from  the  fever  while  a  young  man. 

Wesley  P.  Pledger,  who  also  was  admitted,  was  a  young  man 
of  fine  talents  who  became  a  most  popular  preacher  and  filled 
some  of  the  best  appointments  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  people, 
but  who  was  abnormally  nervous,  and  who  was  forced  more  than 
once  to  retire  from  active  work,  and  died  sadly  and  suddenly,  in 
Atlanta. 


290  History  of 

James  G.  Worley,  a  man  of  great  simplicity  of  heart,  of  peculi- 
arities strongly  marked,  but  of  great  devotion  to  his  work,  en- 
tered the  Conference  at  this  session,  and  died  over  thirty  years 
afterward,  a  member  of  the  North  Georgia  Conference. 

W.  S.  Baker,  who  was  in  the  class  of  1852,  was  long  a  vener- 
able superannuated  member  of  the  South  Georgia  Conference. 
He  was  a  man  of  excellent  mind,  of  good  attainments  and  of 
unsullied  life,  who  in  every  place  to  which  he  was  appointed  did 
faithful  work.  He  served  the  church  well  from  his  entrance 
into  the  work  in  1850  to  his  death,  which  took  place  over  thirty 
years  afterward.  He  was  not  a  brilliant  man,  but  was  a  sensi- 
ble, earnest,  faithful  worker  who  did  good  work  wherever  he 
was  sent. 

Dennis  O.  Driscoll  was  an  Irishman.  His  Catholic  parents 
dedicated  him  to  the  priesthood;  but  for  some  reason  their  aims 
were  defeated  and  Dennis  became  a  bootmaker  and  came  to 
America.  He  was  like  many  of  his  countrymen,  overfond  of  a 
glass,  and  became  a  wretched  drunkard.  In  a  Methodist  meeting 
he  was  awakened  and  converted  and  joined  the  Methodist 
Church.  He  became  a  preacher  and  joined  the  Conference.  He 
was  a  man  of  earnest  piety,  simple,  unassuming,  a  patient  toiler 
in  hard  fields.  Alas !  now  and  then  his  old  enemy  would  over- 
come him,  and  once  he  was  suspended,  but  he  rose  again  and 
died  in  the  work  in  great  peace. 

Robert  B.  Lester,  a  talented  young  lawyer,  was  genuinely  con- 
verted and  left  his  office  and  entered  the  ministry,  and  in  it  died. 
He  was  gifted,  gentle,  consecrated.  A  true  Christian,  loving  all 
and  beloved  by  all,  he  spent  his  life  in  noble,  unselfish  work  for 
the  good  of  his  fellows,  and  few  men  have  been  more  uniformly 
useful  in  ministerial  work.  He  aimed  at  results  and  sought  for 
them  with  untiring  zeal.  He  was  for  years  a  popular  stationed 
preacher  and  a  Presiding  Elder,  and  was  successful,  laborious, 
and   self-sacrificing. 

During  the  year  1847,  Dr.  Jesse  Boring  had  been  selected  as 
a  missionary  to  California;  and  with  young  Wynn  had  gone  to 
the  field ;  and  now  William  A.  Simmons,  John  C.  Simmons  and 
Robert  W.  Bigham  were  transferred  to  that  mission. 

Philemon  C.  Harris  came  from  the  hills  of  Franklin  into  the 
Conference  at  this  session.  He  was  a  sprightly,  active,  and  really 
gifted  young  man,  and  became  quite  a  successful  worker.  He 
was  a  faithful  worker  who  traveled  long  and  did  faithfully  much 
hard  work. 


Georgia  Methodism.  291 

In  December,  1852,  the  Conference  met  at  Athens.  Among 
those  who  came  into  the  ministry  was  Miles  W.  Arnold,  son  of 
William  Arnold,  the  noted  preacher.  He  was  a  soul  winner,  and 
while  not  brilliant  was  a  most  useful  and  effective  man.  While 
not  perhaps  successful  as  a  pastor,  he  was  eminently  so  as  an 
evangelist.     He  died  in  the  work. 

John  W.  Brady  was  a  plain,  good  man,  robust  in  body,  and 
earnest  in  spirit.  He  joined  the  Confederate  Army  and  was 
elected  a  captain ;  and  while  leading  his  company  in  battle,  was 
killed.     He  was  a  pure,  good  man  to  the  end. 

Isaac  N.  Craven  was  a  man  of  mature  years  when,  after  hav- 
ing served  as  a  local  preacher  for  many  years,  he  joined  the  Con- 
ference. He  did  good  work  for  some  years,  and  died  while  still 
efficient  in  the  regular  pastorate. 

Daniel  G.  Cox  was  an  elder  in  the  South  Carolina  Conference, 
where  he  located.  Afterwards  removing  to  Georgia,  he  applied 
for  admission  into  the  Conference,  and  for  over  thirty  years  did 
faithful,  untiring,  and  successful  work.  He  was  a  man  of  very 
great  common  sense,  of  lovely  spirit,  and  of  great  zeal.  He  was 
much  beloved,  and  had  wonderful  success  in  the  charges  which 
he  served. 

John  B.  McGee,  who  was  received  into  the  Conference  this 
year,  a  timid  young  man,  has  continued  in  it  for  over  sixty  years, 
and  at  this  writing  (1912)  is  still  a  pastor.  He  was  the  son  of  a 
pious  and  intelligent  lay  preacher,  Dr.  McGhee,  of  Houston 
County.  He  was  a  graduate  of  the  State  University  and  had  gifts 
of  no  low  order.  He  was  a  timid,  shrinking  boy  when  he  began, 
but  developed  into  an  aggressive,  somewhat  combative  man.  He 
is  a  man  of  strong  convictions,  thoroughly  conservative,  and 
ready  to  hold  his  own  against  all  comers.  He  is  intensely  a  tem- 
perance man  and  in  the  front  in  all  prohibition  contests.  He 
is  a  pure  man,  with  a  clean  record,  and  is  highly  esteemed  in 
his  Conference. 

W.  D.  Shea  was  the  son  of  an  Irishman  and  brought  up  a 
Catholic.  He  had  handsome  person,  genial  manners,  a  warm 
heart,  and  a  ready  tongue.  He  had  a  short  stay  at  Emory  Col- 
lege;  joined  the  Conference  and  gave  promise  of  rapid  advance- 
ment as  a  preacher.  He  married  and  moved  West;  settled  in 
Louisiana;  but  after  the  war  returned  to  Georgia  where  he  died 
in  1906,  a  superannuated  preacher. 

The  Conference  for  1853,  met  in  Macon  on  December  21st. 


292  History  op 

A.  M.  Rowland,  Jackson  Rush,  Wesley  F.  Smith,  David  Strip- 
ling, Oliver  P.  Anthony,  W.  M.  D.  Bond,  Thomas  Boring,  Wil- 
liam Brewer,  Joseph  Chambers,  Robert  N.  Cotter,  F.  N.  Flan- 
ders, Tyre  N.  Harben,  David  T.  Holmes,  M.  F.  Malsby,  Noah 
Palmer,  W.  H.  Potter,  J.  H.  Reese,  and  W.  G.  Allen  entered  the 
Conference. 

\Y.  G.  Allen,  one  of  this  class,  was  a  descendant  of  the  dis- 
tinguished family  of  Aliens  in  Elbert  County. 

He  was  a  young  man,  but  married  when  he  joined  the  Con- 
ference. He  died  suddenly  while  he  was  on  the  Forsyth  Circuit, 
in  1867.  He  was  a  well  poised,  pious,  faithful  man,  who  did 
well  the  work  assigned  him.  He  died  in  the  prime  of  his  life. 
One  of  his  sons  is  a  member  of  the  North  Georgia  Conference. 

Thomas  Boring,  the  brother  of  Jesse  Boring,  only  traveled  a 
few  years.  W.  M.  Brewer,  a  faithful  man,  went  to  the  M.  E. 
Church,  and  died  in  it.  Joseph  Chambers  did  much  hard,  faith- 
ful work,  and  died  in  advanced  years.  David  T.  Holmes  went 
to  Arkansas.  Albert  M.  Rowland  was  a  faithful  man,  who  died 
early.  Weyman  H.  Potter  was  the  son  of  a  local  preacher  who 
resided  in  Oxford,  and  was  a  graduate  of  Emory  College.  Young 
Potter  took  high  place  in  college,  and  was  noted  for  his  fondness 
for  philosophical  study.  After  he  was  graduated  he  taught  for 
a  time  and  was  preparing  for  the  practice  of  law,  when  he  heard 
the  call  to  the  ministry.  He  joined  the  Conference  at  this  ses- 
sion. He  took  a  good  place  from  the  start,  and  was  soon  recog- 
nized as  one  of  the  leading  men  in  the  Conference.  He  was 
trusted  in  every  place  of  honor.  As  preacher  in  charge  and  as 
Presiding  Elder,  he  was  very  useful.  He  was  connected  during 
the  war  with  the  Soldiers'  Relief  Association,  and  when  it  was 
over  went  for  a  little  while  into  secular  business,  but  never  gave 
up  his  ministry.  Then  he  gave  himself  to  his  chosen  work.  He 
was  not  a  sparkling  or  brilliant  man.  His  mind  moved  slowly; 
but  when  he  was  roused  he  was  truly  powerful.  He  was  a  warm 
friend  of  young  preachers,  and  had  many  ardent  friends  among 
them.  He  was  a  great  hearted,  high  toned,  tender,  magnanimous 
man,  who  was  a  leader  among  his  fellows.  He  was  the  editor 
of  The  Wesleyan  Advocate  for  two  terms,  and  was  then  elected 
as  Missionary  Secretary.  While  in  this  position  he  was  sud- 
denly called  away. 

Wesley  F.  Smith,  who  joined  the  Conference  this  year,  did 
not  remain  in  the  traveling  connection  but  three  years.     He  then 


Georgia  Methodism.  293 

located,  and  was  a  most  active  and  useful  local  preacher  for  over 
ten  years.  He  then  returned  to  the  Conference  and  died  in  it, 
in  1894.  He  was  wonderfully  useful.  With  a  fine  person;  a 
sweet  rich  voice ;  a  charming  manner,  and  an  impulsive  delivery, 
he  never  failed  to  interest  and  impress. 

William  M.  D.  Bond,  who  after  forty  years  of  very  active 
ministry,  retired  to  the  superannuated  ranks  in  1894,  was  as 
cheerful  and  energetic  and  as  useful  as  any  man  of  his  time.  He 
sang  beautifully;  exhorted  with  fervor,  and  preached  with  great 
earnestness ;  and  so  filled  every  charge  he  had  to  the  satisfaction 
of  the  church. 

Marshall  F.  Malsby,  a  rugged,  strong-willed,  strong-minded 
man,  joined  the  Conference  this  year.  He  did  much  hard  work 
until  his  health  gave  away,  and  then  retired  to  the  ranks  of  the 
superannuates. 

Noah  Palmer  joined  the  Conference  at  the  same  time ;  traveled 
a  few  years  in  the  mountains  and  on  the  seaboard,  and  then  lo- 
cated ;  practiced  medicine  a  few  years,  and  then  returned  to  the 
Conference,  in  which  he  died. 

Robert  N.  Cotter  died  in  his  youth.  He  was  a  man  of  gentle 
spirit ;  modest  and  retiring.  He  called  himself  a  "traveling  class- 
leader." 

James  H.  Reese  died  early,  leaving  a  good  name.  Jackson 
Rush  also  died  early. 

The  Conference  of  1854  was  the  first  ever  held  in  Atlanta. 
Bishop  Capers  was  present,  and  it  was  one  of  the  last,  if  not  the 
last,  Conference  over  which  he  presided.  A  very  large  class  was 
admitted.  They  were :  James  T.  Ainsworth,  James  M.  Arm- 
strong, Franklin  M.  Boynton,  John  W.  Burke,  Thomas  T.  Chris- 
tian, James  O.  Clark,  Charles  P.  Cooper,  William  Davies,  Alvin 
J.  Dean,  Oscar  P.  Fitzgerald,  Francis  X.  Forster,  Peter  Groover, 
Milford  Hanby,  John  P.  Howell,  Robert  F.  Jones,  George  G.  N. 
McDonnel,  Edward  T.  McGhee,  John  Newell,  John  Patillo,  Wes- 
ley P.  Pledger,  William  J.  Scott,  W.  W.  Tidwell,  William  S. 
Turner.  This  was  a  very  large  class,  and  was  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  the  Georgia  Conference  ever  received.  Of  it  a  large 
proportion  remained  in  the  work  as  long  as  they  lived.  One  of 
them  was  a  Bishop ;  a  number  were  doctors  of  divinity,  and  no 
class  ever  gave  to  the  Church  an  abler  body  of  preachers.  Two 
of  its  members  continued  in  the  active  work  for  fifty  years. 
E.  T.  McGhee  and  George  G.  N.  McDonnell,  James  T.  Ains- 
worth, William  S.  Baker,  and  several  others,  were  living  in  con- 


294  History  of 

nection  with  the  Conference  as  superannuates  fifty  years  after 
their  admission. 

The  improvement  in  temporal  affairs  in  the  State  was  marked, 
and  the  church  kept  pace,  and  so  there  was  constant  demand  for 
new  fields. 

The  class  of  1854  was  in  many  respects  the  most  remarkable 
class  ever  introduced  into  the  Georgia  Conference,  not  only  on 
account  of  the  number  admitted,  but  because  of  the  prominent 
position  which  so  many  of  this  class  took  in  the  church. 

C.  P.  Cooper  and  William  Davies  went  to  Florida.  John 
Patillo  to  Texas.  James  M.  Armstrong,  a  feeble  man,  of  excel- 
lent mind  and  modest  piety,  was  able  to  do  work  only  for  a 
few  years,  when  he  was  forced  to  retire. 

William  S.  Turner  was  for  some  years  a  popular  preacher  in 
Georgia;  then  he  was  in  Alabama,  where  he  located,  and  return- 
ing to  the  Conference,  he  died  in  Florida. 

J.  O.  Clark,  as  he  is  written,  was  one  of  the  most  learned, 
gifted,  and  best  equipped  men  of  the  Georgia  Conference.  He 
sprang  from  the  Sumner  family  of  New  England,  and  from  the 
Clark  family  of  the  same  section.  He  was  brought  up  by  a  good 
Methodist  mother,  in  Savannah,  graduated  at  Brown  University 
in  Providence,  Rhode  Island ;  studied  law,  and  was  practicing 
in  Savannah,  when  he  was  converted  in  the  great  revival  while 
William  Crumley  was  in  charge.  He  laid  aside  his  law  books 
and  entered  the  Conference.  He  never  did  anything  without 
throwing  his  whole  heart  into  it,  and  from  the  day  he  began  his 
ministry  until  its  end  in  1894,  his  labors  knew  no  cessation.  He 
traveled  extensively  in  the  interests  of  the  Wesley  Monumental 
Church ;  was  well  known  in  England  and  all  over  the  United 
States.  He  prepared  a  monumental  work  to  Wesley  of  rare  ex- 
cellence; wrote  a  series  of  lectures  on  Elijah  the  Prophet,  and  a 
satire  on  modern  usages  as  seen,  under  the  title  of  "Esther,"  and 
had  a  book  on  the  Spiritual  Body  in  manuscript  when  he  died. 
He  was  a  Presiding  Elder  of  great  ability,  and  was  one  of  the 
most  useful  men  of  his  time. 

John  W.  Burke,  who  died  a  superannuated  member  of  the 
South  Georgia,  was  the  son  of  an  Irishman.  His  father  was  a 
devout  Catholic  who  was  converted  in  a  Methodist  meeting  and 
joined  the  Methodist  Church.  John  was  converted  when  a  boy 
and  in  the  office  of  Mr.  Chase  in  Athens  learned  the  printer's 
trade.  He  established  a  newspaper  in  the  up-country;  but  re- 
ceiving a  call  to  preach,  he  left  his  office  and  began  his  ministry. 
He  was  soon  selected  as  the  manager  of  a  Georgia  Book  Deposi- 


BISHOP  ATTICUS  G.   HAYGOOD. 


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HP 


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Georgia  Methodism.  297 

tory  for  the  Conference,  and  in  this  way  became  connected  with 
the  book  trade.  He  established  and  conducted  successfully  the 
book  and  publishing  house  of  John  W.  Burke  &  Co.  The  finan- 
cial storm  which  came  upon  the  country  in  1873,  he  weathered  suc- 
cessfuly,  but  twenty  years  afterward  he  was  driven  to  the  wall. 
He  was  a  fine  business  man,  but  never  in  all  its  engrossing  af- 
fairs forgot  that  he  was  a  Christian  and  a  Christian  minister. 
Generous,  warm-hearted,  hospitable,  when  he  had  a  large  income 
he  used  it  freely  to  do  good  to  others.  Adversity  came  in  his 
old  age ;  his  health  gave  way ;  but  his  good  nature  and  Christian 
faith  never  forsook  him.  He  was  never  more  honored  than  in 
his  last  days  of  feebleness  and  adversity. 

James  T.  Ainsworth  was  a  man  of  solid  parts.  He  was  sensi- 
ble, prudent,  pious,  and  up  to  the  last  faithful  to  every  trust.  His 
son  is  the  Rev.  Dr.  Ainsworth,  of  the  South  Georgia  Conference. 

Thomas  T.  Christian  left  his  editor's  chair  for  the  pulpit  at 
the  same  time  his  friend,  J.  W.  Burke,  did.  He  was  sent  to  a 
very  poor  circuit  in  the  mountains.  He  soon  rose  to  be  a  leader 
among  his  brethren.  He  was  after  long  service  in  the  pastorate, 
chosen  as  Assistant  Editor  of  the  Wesleyan,  and  in  that  position 
he  died.  He  was  a  man  of  remarkable  parts  who  was  very  useful. 
Two  of  his  sons  are  members  of  the  South  Georgia  Conference. 

Alvin  J.  Dean  was  a  man  of  weak  body,  but  a  strong  man  in- 
tellectually. He  was  very  faithful  up  to  the  time  he  was  called 
away. 

Francis  X.  Forster  was  a  teacher  and  was  in  the  college  at 
Cuthbert  when  he  joined  the  Conference,  and  afterward  in  Ma- 
con. He  went  hence  to  Missouri,  where  he  died  as  professor  in 
Central  College.  He  was  a  man  of  fine  parts  and  had  a  classic 
and  well  trained  mind. 

Mil  ford  Hamby,  a  plain  boy  from  the  mountains,  began  his 
life  work  this  year.  He  was  without  education  and  with  little 
confidence  in  himself  and  not  strong  in  health;  so  did  not  con- 
tinue on  the  effective  list  for  many  years.  He  was  superannuated 
a  considerable  time,  but  worked  as  he  could.  His  son  is  the  Rev. 
W.  T.  Hamby,  of  the  North  Georgia  Conference,  who  has  been 
one  of  our  most  efficient  young  preachers. 

George  G.  N.  McDonnell  was  a  grandson  of  a  Scotch  High- 
lander and  the  son  of  a  Methodist  preacher.  He  was  tried  in 
almost  every  position  in  which  his  brethren  could  place  him  and 
failed  in  none.  Gifted,  cultivated,  well  poised,  devoted  to  duty, 
he  did  his  work  with  the  most  painstaking  care  and  self-sacrific- 


298  History  of 

ing  zeal.  The  sainted  R.  W.  McDonnell,  the  missionary  to 
Mexico,  was  his  oldest  son,  and  Judge  McDonnell,  of  Savannah, 
his  second. 

Oscar  Penn  Fitzgerald,  now  admitted  on  trial,  came  from  Vir- 
ginia to  Macon  to  take  his  place  at  a  compositor's  case  in  a  job 
printing  office.  He  was  taken  severely  sick  and  had  a  long  attack 
of  typhoid.  He  had  once  been  a  Methodist,  as  his  mother  had 
been  before  him.  He  was  converted  again  and  joined  the  Mul- 
berry Street  Church.  Here  there  was  an  excellent  circle  of  young 
men  who  took  great  interest  in  the  young  stranger.  While  here 
he  decided  to  give  up  his  printer's  case  for  the  pulpit,  and  joined 
the  Conference.  He  was  sent  to  Savannah,  and  at  the  instance 
of  Bishop  Andrew  was  sent  to  California,  to  the  new  mission. 
From  this  time,  he  was  connected  with  the  Pacific  Conference 
until  he  was  called  to  the  East  to  edit  The  Nashville  Advocate. 
He  was  elected,  in  1890,  a  Bishop.  Bishop  Fitzgerald,  as  all 
know,  was  a  very  gifted  and  most  lovable  man.  He  wrote  many 
charming  books,  and  although  superannuated,  kept  his  busy  pen 
at  work.  He  has  presided  over  both  of  the  Conferences  of  his 
adopted  State,  and  is  in  great  favor  with  his  Georgia  brethren. 

The  first  General  Conference  which  ever  met  in  Georgia,  met  in 
Columbus  in  May  of  1854.  It  was  quite  an  important  session.  The 
question  of  where  the  Book  Concern  should  be  located  was  to  be 
settled,  and  three  new  Bishops  were  to  be  elected.  The  first  ques- 
tion was  answered  by  naming  Nashville,  and  the  second  by  the 
choosing  of  George  F.  Pierce,  H.  H.  Kavanaugh,  and  John  Early 
as  Bishops.  Bishop  Pierce  was  at  the  time  of  his  election  forty- 
three  years  old.  He  was  President  of  Emory  College  and  was 
in  his  most  vigorous  manhood.  Bishop  Kavanaugh,  the  unique 
and  eloquent  Kentuckian,  whose  fame  as  a  preacher  was  in  all 
the  land,  was  near  his  age.  While  Bishop  Early  was  even  then 
an  old  and  venerable  man,  his  distinguished  services  for  over 
forty  years  and  his  remarkable  vigor  and  his  unquestioned  integ- 
rity entitled  him  to  distinguished  consideration,  and  he  was  chosen 
to  the  highest  office  in  the  gift  of  the  Church.  The  Georgia  Con- 
ference, and  indeed  all  of  Georgia,  were  greatly  pleased  at  the 
honor  conferred  on  George  F.  Pierce,  who  had  won  for  himself 
such  a  high  place  at  so  early  a  day. 

The  Southwestern  Railway,  which  was  making  its  way  to 
Eufaula,  was  opening  up  a  rich  country,  and  little  villages  were 
becoming  thriving  towns.  Among  the  most  promising  towns  in 
this  section  was  Americus.     There  had  been  circuit  preaching 


Georgia  Methodism.  299 

there  for  years,  but  now  it  was  decided  to  have  a  station,  and 
Jesse  R.  Littlejohn  was  sent.  There  were  but  149  Methodists 
in  the  community;  but  the  plucky  young  town  decided  to  invite 
the  Conference  of  1855  to  hold  its  session  in  its  midst,  and  the 
invitation  was  accepted.  It  has  been  a  station  ever  since  1854 
and  has  been  ranked  as  one  of  the  best. 

There  had  been  during  these  five  years  but  little  to  differentiate 
them  from  those  which  came  after  them  or  those  which  had  im- 
mediately gone  before  them.  Railroads  were  now  connecting  all 
parts  of  the  conferences.  The  colleges  were  in  good  working 
order.  The  colored  missions  were  very  prosperous.  Augusta, 
Savannah,  and  Macon  had  handsome  brick  churches,  large  con- 
gregations, and  there  was  a  constant  increase  in  the  salaries  paid 
for  the  support  of  the  preachers. 

The  Conference  of  1855  met  at  LaGrange,  December,  1855, 
Bishop  Early  presiding.  There  was  a  class  of  twenty  admitted. 
There  were:  David  W.  Calhoun,  Benjamin  F.  Perry,  Haber- 
sham J.  Adams,  William  A.  Edwards,  William  A.  Morton,  W. 
B.  Bailey,  Absalom  H.  Ogletree,  William  C.  Rowland,  David  E. 
Starr,  John  W.  McGhee,  Josiah  Bullock,  William  F.  Cook,  Peter 
M.  Ryburn,  Elijah  N.  Boland,  Joseph  S.  Key,  Thomas  H.  Stew- 
art, John  W.  Turner,  Benjamin  F.  Breedlove,  J.  V.  M.  Morris, 
John  W.  McCrary.  This  class,  as  the  one  preceding  it,  had  a 
Bishop  among  its  members,  and  had  several  who  became  very 
prominent  in  the  work  of  the  Conference.  There  were  still  com- 
ing forward  for  admission  men  of  very  limited  education,  but 
few  who  were  really  illiterate,  and  an  increasing  number  every 
year  of  college  graduates. 

During  this  decade,  the  work  of  the  Florida  Conference  in  the 
part  of  Georgia  it  occupied  made  but  little  progress.  That  Con- 
ference was  quite  feeble,  the  territory  was  very  large,  the  section 
of  Georgia  in  its  care  was  very  extensive  and  very  poor,  and  the 
field  was  hard  and  unpromising.  In  the  southwestern  part  of 
the  State  there  was  some  wealth  and  a  thicker  peopling,  and 
there  was  some  promise.  Bainbridge  and  Thomasville  were  prom- 
ising stations.  There  was  received  into  the  Conference  during 
this  period  in  Florida  some  valuable  men  who  did  good  work 
in  after  time  in  Georgia.  There  was  an  excellent  community  on 
the  Manatee  in  the  almost  unsettled  West  Coast  of  Florida,  and 
from  it  in  1855  came  Francis  A.  and  James  Orson  Branch,  who 
were  sons  of  Dr.  Branch.  Their  home  had  been  on  the  edge  of 
the  Everglades,  below  Tampa.     These  young  men  were  of  more 


300  History  of 

than  usual  gifts  and  better  education  than  was  common  among 
applicants  for  admission,  and  as  soon  as  they  entered  the  Con- 
ference they  were  at  once  placed  in  prominent  places.  Both  of 
these  spent  their  last  years  in  the  South  Georgia  Conference. 

Francis  A.  Branch,  the  elder,  after  years  of  faithful  service 
in  Georgia  and  Florida,  after  he  had  passed  seventy,  died  in  the 
work.  Dr.  J.  O.  Branch  died  later  while  at  work  on  a  large 
district.  They  knew  no  intermission  in  their  labors  from  the 
date  of  entrance  to  the  end.  Both  of  them  were  men  of  greatest 
purity  of  life  and  of  excellent  preaching  gifts. 

Frederick  R.  C.  Ellis,  who  was  admitted  into  full  connection 
in  1855,  died  in  1895,  a  member  of  the  South  Georgia  Confer- 
ence. He  was  a  man  of  very  deep  piety  and  of  very  lovely  char- 
acter, and  faithfully  discharged  all  the  onerous  and  soul-trying 
work  required  at  his  hands. 

Robert  L.  Wiggins,  now  a  member  of  the  South  Georgia,  en- 
tered the  Conference  in  1858,  and  has  been  an  efficient  and  valu- 
able member  of  either  the  Florida  or  South  Georgia  Conference 
until  the  present  time. 

No  part  of  the  State  of  Georgia  required  a  greater  amount  of 
self-sacrifice  than  was  required  of  these  members  of  the  Florida 
Conference  who  traveled  over  the  wild  stretches  of  pine  forests 
and  swamps  in  the  counties  on  its  borders.  The  people  were  un- 
cultivated and  hostile  to  Methodism,  and  while  the  climate  was 
mild  in  winter,  it  was  fearfully  trying  in  summer.  What  is  now 
one  of  the  best  sections  of  Georgia  was  then  regarded  as  worth- 
less. There  was  again  a  decrease  reported  in  the  number  of 
white  members.  The  emigration  to  the  West  was  very  brisk, 
and  then  perhaps  there  had  been  a  better  system  of  keeping  the 
records.  Before  this  time  there  had  been  no  distinction  made 
between  the  probationers  and  those  in  full  connection.  The  re- 
vival meeting  was  now  held  in  almost  every  charge,  and  fervid 
pastors  opened  the  door  of  the  church  very  frequently,  and  as 
the  party  applying  was  merely  to  be  received  on  trial,  there  was 
not  much  care  taken  in  receiving  him ;  but  when  the  next  pastor 
looked  over  the  roll  of  probationers,  he  dropped  many  of  them 
from  the  list,  and  so  the  church  membership  seemed  to  have  de- 
creased, when  really  it  had  increased.  The  collection  for  mis- 
sions had  reached  nearly  ,$19,000.  The  Conference  had  decided 
on  a  Book  Depository,  and  J.  Blakely  Smith  was  appointed  as 
agent  to  collect  the  funds  for  it,  and  he  had  collected  nearly 
$5,000.  The  collection  for  superannuates  was  growing  and  near 
$7,000  had  been  collected  during  the  year   1855.     The  circuits 


Georgia  Methodism.  301 

were  now   reduced   in  size,  but  nearly  all  of  them  included  a 
whole  county. 

Only  fourteen  were  admitted  into  full  connection.  Two  died 
very  early.  William  H.  Morton,  a  good  young  man,  not  twenty 
years  old,  died  during  his  first  year,  and  W.  A.  Edwards  in  his 
second  year.    They  were  men  of  promise  and  piety. 

Benjamin  F.  Perry,  a  young  Alabamian  who  shared  the  first 
honor  at  Emory  Colege,  joined  the  Conference,  but  went  at  once 
to  Texas.  Josiah  Bullock,  an  Irishman,  went  to  Florida,  as  did 
J.  W.  McCrary.  Absalom  H.  Ogletree  only  traveled  three  years 
and  located.  W.  C.  Rowland,  a  man  of  pure  character  and  mode- 
rate gifts,  went  to  the  M.  E.  Church  after  a  few  years  of  service. 

David  E.  Starr  traveled  a  short  time  and  located. 

Elijah  Boland  was  a  faithful  man  who  entered  the  army  and 
died  in  a  hospital  in  Richmond. 

Thomas  H.  Stewart,  a  young  physician  and  a  man  of  fine 
character,  traveled  a  few  years  and  located. 

David  W.  Calhoun  was  a  fervid,  earnest  preacher,  who  after 
a  somewhat  chequered  life,  after  he  was  a  grey-haired  man,  en- 
tered the  Conference.  He  traveled  sixteen  years  and  then  lo- 
cated.    He  was  zealous,  useful  and  successful. 

John  W.  McGhee  did  useful  and  successful  work  for  over 
fifteen  years.  He  then  located,  but  shortly  afterward  died.  He 
was  warm  hearted,  pious,  liberal,  and  did  much  faithful  work  in 
trying  times. 

John  W.  Turner  was  the  oldest  son  of  Allen  Turner.  He 
graduated  at  Oxford  and  joined  the  traveling  connection.  He 
was  a  most  excellent  man  who  did  courageously  his  duty  as  he 
saw  it.  He  was  happily  married  to  a  fair  young  wife,  when  by 
a  fearful  accident  he  was  in  a  moment  deprived  of  her.  They 
were  riding  in  a  buggy.  The  horse  became  refractory  and  began 
to  kick.  The  young  wife  was  thrown  forward,  and  by  a  blow 
from  the  hoof  was  killed  instantly.  He  did  faithful  work  for 
years  afterward  and  died  in  great  peace. 

Benjamin  F.  Breedlove  was  a  man  of  very  aimable  temper, 
good  manners,  and  good  education.  He  soon  became  quite  a 
popular  preacher,  and  was  on  station  work  for  near  thirty  years. 
He  loved  all  men,  and  was  greatly  beloved  in  turn.  He  died  in 
peace. 

James  V.  M.  Morris  had  few  advantages  in  early  life,  but  was 
possessed  of  a  mind  of  uncommon  vigor  and  was  devoted  to  his 
work.  He  is  a  very  sound  theologian  and  a  most  interesting 
preacher.     He  was  an  unmarried  man  till  he  was  fifty,  and  he 


302  History  of 

said  on  many  occasions  he  preached  on  the  way  to  manage  chil- 
dren. He  quaintly  remarked  that  after  he  was  a  father,  he  was 
less  confident  as  a  teacher.  A  man  of  sterling  worth,  untiring 
energy,  few  men  have  done  better  work  for  the  church. 

Habersham  J.  Adams  was  a  member  of  a  most  prominent  fam- 
ily. His  grandmother  was  the  sainted  Mrs.  Flournoy,  who  was 
before  her  marriage  a  Miss  Cobb,  and  his  mother  a  worthy 
daughter  of  such  a  mother.  Young  Adams  in  manhood  was  a 
handsome,  active,  prosperous  business  man,  when  his  lovely  wife 
suddenly  died.  He  was  not  religious,  and  the  sense  of  loss  was 
fearful.  It  led  him  to  seek  religion  and  consecrate  himself  to 
the  ministry.  He  closed  up  his  business  and  joined  the  Confer- 
ence, and  for  many  years  until  his  death,  was  one  of  the  most 
useful  and  highly  esteemed  of  Methodist  preachers. 

W.  F.  Cook  was  the  son  of  Rev.  Francis  Cook.  He  was  con- 
verted when  a  child;  graduated  before  he  was  eighteen  at  Emory 
College,  and  entered  the  Conference  before  he  was  of  age.  For 
fifty  years  he  was  an  untiring,  successful  worker.  As  a  presi- 
dent of  a  State  Institution,  a  professor  in  the  Wesleyan,  as  a 
pastor,  or  as  Presiding  Elder,  he  was  noted  for  his  earnestness 
and  good  judgment.  He  was  a  man  of  fine  culture,  great  common 
sense,  and  noted  for  the  purity  of  his  religious  life.  He  was  often 
a  delegate  to  the  General  Conference,  where  he  was  recognized 
by  its  leading  men  as  a  most  valuable  member. 

Peter  M.  Ryburn  was  born  of  Scotch  parents  on  both  sides 
in  Charleston,  S.  C.  He  was  a  man  of  good  mind,  studious  habits, 
of  excellent  culture,  and  of  a  tender  heart.  He  was  teacher  of 
a  classical  school  when  he  was  admitted.  He  was  never  super- 
annuated, never  inefficient,  though  he  worked  to  advanced  age. 
He  was  greatly  beloved,  very  useful,  and  one  of  the  most  blame- 
less of  men.  He  died  very  suddenly  after  having  lived  a  most 
beautiful  life. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
1856  to  i860. 

The  Conference  for  1856  was  held  at  Americus,  December  3-12, 
1856.  It  was  in  session  for  nine  days.  Twenty  were  admitted 
on  trial.  They  were  Dr.  Robert  W.  Lovett,  Edward  F.  Gates, 
Jacob  C.  Neese,  Cicero  A.  Mitchell,  Goodman  Hughes,  William 
A.  Parker,  James  D.  Junkin,  Wiley  T.  Hamilton,  W.  T.  Mc- 
Michael,  Alex  M.  Thigpen,  George  H.  Patillo,  John  W.  Reynolds, 
Smith  Davenport,  Robert  W.  Dixon,  Francis  X.  Forster,  William 
Park,  Samuel  A.  Clarke,  Absalom  C.  Davis,  W.  H.  Moss,  and 
J.  L.  Terry.  It  was  a  very  large  class,  of  which  a  considerable 
number  did  but  little  work  in  Georgia  as  itinerant  preachers. 

Robert  W.  Dixon,  a  young  man  of  excellent  family,  of  good 
mind,  of  good  culture,  and  of  genuine  piety,  began  his  ministry 
at  this  Conference.  He  bade  fair  to  be  among  the  leading  men 
of  his  Conference,  when  he  was  afflicted  by  a  very  painful  and 
malignant  affection  of  his  jaw  bone.  He  gradually  sunk  under 
it,  and  died  in  great  peace  at  an  early  age. 

W.  H.  Moss,  another  of  this  class,  after  a  few  years  in  Georgia, 
went  to  Louisiana,  and  thence  into  Texas,  where  he  is  a  useful 
traveling  preacher  to  this  day. 

James  L.  Terry,  A.  C.  Davis,  and  William  Park  were  never 
admitted  into  full  connection. 

W.  A.  Parks,  a  great-grandson  of  Henry  Parks,  mentioned  in 
an  early  chapter  of  this  history  as  one  of  the  first  Methodists, 
and  a  nephew  of  William  J.  Parks,  so  famous  in  the  history  of 
Methodism  in  Georgia,  came  into  the  Conference  this  year.  He 
was  a  highly  honored  preacher.  He  early  evinced  his  superior 
ability,  and  while  a  young  man  was  appointed  agent  of  the 
American  Bible  Society.  This  position  he  held  for  years,  then 
resigned  and  went  into  the  regular  work,  where  he  did  good  serv- 
ice as  a  preacher  in  charge  and  a  Presiding  Elder. 

Wiley  T.  Hamilton,  who  for  over  forty  years  was  a  useful 
preacher,  began  his  work  this  year.  He  came  of  good  Methodist 
stock ;  was  well  educated  in  the  fundamental  branches ;  was  a 
man  of  strong  mind,  and  of  purest  character.  No  man  was  more 
fully  trusted  or  highly  honored  by  those  who  knew  him  than  he 
was.  A  warm-hearted,  thoroughly  conscientious  man,  he  faith- 
fully endeavored  to  follow  the  footsteps  of  his  Master. 

W.  T.  McMichael  was  the  son  of  a  Baptist  preacher  of  the 


304  History  of 

most  pronounced  views.  The  son  became  a  decided  Methodist, 
and  no  man  more  zealously  contended  for  the  doctrines  of  Meth- 
odism, until  feeble  health  forced  him  to  retire.  No  sincerer  man 
was  ever  a  member  of  the  Georgia  Conference,  nor  no  man  of 
gentler,  sweeter  spirit. 

Alex  M.  Thigpen,  a  young  lawyer  from  Clinton  and  a  local 
preacher,  was  of  this  class.  He  was  a  man  of  unusually  good 
mind,  of  good  scholarship,  and  a  most  judicious  and  faithful 
worker.  He  was  a  chaplain  in  the  army,  and  no  one  was  ever 
more  useful  in  that  position  or  more  loved  and  honored.  He 
had  the  care  of  an  invalid  wife  resting  on  him  for  years  and  try- 
ing all  his  powers,  until  he  gave  way  under  the  load  of  sympa- 
thetic care  and  died  suddenly,  after  having  lived  most  usefully. 

George  H.  Patillo  came  into  the  work  before  he  was  twenty- 
one,  and  rose  rapidly  in  the  Conference.  He  was  handsome, 
bright,  studious,  attractive,  and  had  the  prospect  of  great  use- 
fulness before  him.  During  the  war  he  was  elected  first  as  pro- 
fessor; then  as  president  of  the  LeVert  Female  College  of  Tal- 
botton,  and  held  the  position  for  a  little  while  after  the  war  was 
over.  He  then  re-entered  the  active  work  and  was  sent  to  Au- 
gusta. He  was  made  Presiding  Elder  on  the  Griffin  District, 
and  after  his  term  was  out  was  sent  to  Elberton,  when  suddenly 
his  health  gave  way  entirely  and  after  a  few  years  of  invalidism 
he  went  to  heaven.  He  was  a  man  of  fine  parts — energetic,  en- 
terprising, almost  daring,  he  made  broad  plans  for  the  Church 
and  carried  them  out  successfully.  Perhaps  no  man  in  the  Con- 
ference ever  did  more  in  the  way  of  church  building.  He  was 
perhaps  too  sanguine,  too  hopeful,  and  too  enterprising  and  over- 
exerted himself  and  died  very  early.  The  Rev.  Charles  Evans 
Patillo,  of  the  Missouri  Conference,  is  his  son. 

John  W.  Reynolds  was  the  son  of  Edmond  W.  Reynolds,  a 
young  man  of  very  decided  parts  and  promise,  studious,  diligent 
and  aspiring.  He  had  only  begun  his  ministry  and  had  been  mar- 
ried but  a  few  years,  when  he  was  suddenly  called  away. 

Robert  W.  Lovett  belonged  to  an  old  Virginia  family  of  the 
Church  of  England,  people  who  had  removed  to  Georgia  very 
soon  after  the  Revolution.  They  lived  on  the  Savannah  River, 
near  a  ferry,  and  when  Bishop  Asbury  came  to  Georgia  he  was 
their  guest.  They  early  became  Methodists,  and  Robert,  the 
grandson  of  one  of  the  first  comers,  was  early  a  Methodist  and 
one  of  the  first  students  of  Emory  College.  After  his  graduation 
he  was  married  to  a  daughter  of  Bishop  Andrew  and  was  licensed 
to  preach.     He  studied  medicine  and  graduated  at  a  medical  col- 


Georgia  Methodism.  305 

lege.  He  was  a  faithful  local  preacher  for  some  years,  and  then 
was  admitted  to  the  Conference.  After  traveling  a  few  years,  he 
located.     He  died  in  1912. 

Ed  T.  Gates,  who  was  admitted,  went  to  Florida,  where  he 
made  his  home,  and  was  a  worthy  member  of  that  Conference. 

The  thriving  village  of  Thomaston  was  made  a  station  at  this 
Conference.  There  were  but  a  hundred  members  of  the  society, 
but  they  were  full  of  energy  and  liberality,  and  this  year  Cedar- 
town,  a  beautiful  little  village  in  the  western  part  of  North  Geor- 
gia, where  there  were  only  sixty-seven  Methodists,  was  made  a 
station  and  a  neat  church  was  built.  Elijah  Bird,  an  old  Metho- 
dist preacher,  who  had  once  been  an  itinerant,  had  fixed  his  home 
five  miles  from  the  village,  and  Captain  Wimberly  a  few  miles 
in  another  direction.  They  were  almost  the  only  Methodists  in 
this  beautiful  valley  except  the  wife  of  William  Peek,  Esq.,  the 
wealthiest  man  in  it.  The  valley  was  occupied  almost  entirely 
by  Baptists.  There  was  an  unhappy  division  in  this  church,  and 
is  was  decided  to  invite  the  Methodist  preacher  to  hold  regular 
service.  Mr.  Peek  gave  a  house  for  the  preacher  and  $200  for 
his  support,  and  Peter  M.  Ryburn  was  stationed  at  the  new 
charge.     Cedartown  is  now  one  of  our  best  charges. 

The  sad  fact  must  be  admitted  that  the  church  was  not  pros- 
perous, though  the  country  was.  The  church  did  not  share  in 
the  lavish  expenditure  of  money  to  which  we  have  referred,  and 
as  yet  in  many  sections  the  church  buildings  were  in  sad  contrast 
with  homes.  The  people  lived  in  elegant  homes,  but  the  church 
buildings  were  such  as  they  had  been  when  the  homes  were  log 
cabins.  The  spirit  of  church  building  was  abroad  in  the  land, 
and  some  attention  began  to  be  paid  to  church  building.  This 
prosperous  condition  of  things  was  brought  to  a  sudden  end  by 
a  great  financial  crash,  the  greatest  known  since  1837. 

The  collections  for  connectional  benevolence  were  still  growing 
and  $21,000  was  paid  for  missions.  Much  the  larger  part  of 
this  collection  was  expended  at  home  in  providing  a  missionary 
for  the  slaves  of  the  men  who  gave  the  money,  and  in  many  in- 
stances the  amount  paid  to  the  missionary  to  the  negroes  in  many 
older  counties  was  far  greater  than  the  contribution  of  the  cir- 
cuit to  the  general  cause.  The  plan  of  Dr.  Pierce  for  an  eight- 
weeks'  circuit  with  two  preachers  had  not  been  successful.  The 
camp-meeting  in  the  Middle  Circuit  had  been  given  up  in  many 
cases.  There  was,  however,  growth  in  the  liberal  giving  of  the 
church. 


306  History  of 

The  Conference  for  1857  met  in  Washington  on  December  9, 
1857,  Bishop  Paine  presiding.  This  was  the  first  Conference 
which  ever  met  in  Washington.  At  Grants,  a  few  miles  from 
Washington,  and  at  Coke's  Chapel,  three  miles  away  near  the 
home  of  Hope  Hull,  the  first  Conferences  in  Georgia  had  been 
held  sixty  years  before  this  one  of  1857.  Washington  was 
now  a  station.  It  was  inhabited  by  wealthy  planters,  and  its 
homes  were  elegant  and  commodious.  It  was  not  a  large  town, 
but  it  fully  met  the  demands  made  on  it.  General  Toombs,  then 
in  the  Senate  and  the  leading  figure  in  Georgia  at  that  time,  had 
married  a  Methodist,  and  entertained  the  Bishop.  Bishop  Paine 
presided.  He  was  then  in  the  vigor  of  his  magnificent  manhood, 
and  presided  with  great  ability.  Dr.  Jefferson  Hamilton,  the 
classic  Alabamian ;  Dr.  Sehon,  the  Missionary  Secretary,  and  Dr. 
Cross  were  each  of  them  present.  The  Conference  had  some 
trying  matters  to  attend  to,  and  remained  in  session  for  ten 
days. 

The  year  had  opened  very  inauspiciously.  For  over  ten  years 
the  church  in  the  Conference  lines  had  grown  very  steadily,  but 
for  the  several  years  preceding  this,  there  had  been  a  decrease 
every  year.  The  country  in  a  financial  way  had  been  apparently 
very  prosperous.  The  financial  depression  which  had  continued 
from  1837  to  1844,  had  been  succeeded  by  years  of  remarkable 
prosperity.  The  banks  were  numerous  and  were  considered  very 
sound.  The  price  of  property  was  high  ;  the  planters  made  money 
rapidly,  and  the  merchants  did  good  business,  when  all  at  once 
there  burst  a  storm  of  disaster.  The  banks  suspended ;  money 
could  not  be  had,  and  merchants  failed  on  all  sides.  Factories 
ceased  to  move  their  wheels ;  laborers  were  unemployed,  and  de- 
pression was  everywhere.  The  collections  were  made  just  at 
the  worst  of  the  time,  and  receipts  fell  from  $21,000  to  $18,000 
for  missions.  There  were  some  special  church  troubles.  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Graves,  a  Vermont  Baptist  living  in  Nashville,  had 
attacked  the  Methodist  Church  and  had  published  a  series  of 
scurrilous  articles  against  the  Methodists  which  he  published  in 
a  book  called  The  Great  Iron  Wheel.  The  Baptists  and  Metho- 
dists had  been  co-laborers  and  had  generally,  while  not  workers 
together,  not  been  in  direct  antagonism ;  but  this  severe  attack 
on  the  Methodists  led  to  retaliation,  and  the  two  great  revival 
churches  fought  each  other  fiercely  and  revivals  ceased  for  a 
time.    Other  causes  united  to  turn  the  church  from  its  main  work, 


Georgia  Methodism.  307 

and  there  was  again  a  decrease  in  membership,  not  quite  so  great 
as  for  several  years  before,  but  still  serious  enough  to  rouse 
great  concern.  There  were  matters  of  discipline  which  prolonged 
the  session,  and  the  Conference  remained  in  session  till  the  ninth 
day. 

There  was  a  large  class  admitted.  Lewis  L.  Ledbetter  was  re- 
ceived at  this  Conference.  He  was  a  descendant  of  a  family  fa- 
mous in  Methodist  history  for  the  number  of  preachers  it  has 
furnished.  He  was  a  prosperous  dentist,  in  the  city  of  Atlanta, 
and  was  a  man  with  a  large  family,  when  he  entered  the  Con- 
ference. He  had  married  a  daughter  of  Elijah  Bird,  one  of  the 
early  preachers.  He  gave  himself  with  energy  to  the  work  upon 
which  he  had  entered,  and  was  a  useful  man  from  the  start.  He 
had  before  him  the  prospects  of  long  continued  usefulness,  when 
suddenly  he  was  cut  short  in  his  work.  Strong,  vigorous,  ener- 
getic in  1867  when  he  entered  the  tenth  year  of  his  itinerancy, 
he  died. 

Whitfield  Anthony,  the  father  of  J.  D.  Anthony  and  a  relative 
of  Samuel  Anthony,  as  his  name  indicates  was  of  old  Methodist 
stock.  He  was  an  old  man  when  he  began  to  travel,  and  only 
traveled  a  few  years  and  in  1863  returned  to  the  local  ranks  again. 

Leander  Strange,  John  P.  Bailey,  Augustus  T.  Williamson, 
were  all  young  men  whose  Conference  life  was  not  long.  They 
each  retired  to  the  ranks  of  the  local  preachers.  James  R.  Free- 
man withdrew  from  the  Conference. 

John  T.  Norris,  a  first  honor  graduate  of  Emory  College,  be- 
gan his  ministerial  life  in  this  Conference,  and  continued  it  with 
faithful  earnestness  until  after  the  war.  His  health  gave  way, 
and  he  then  entered  into  secular  life.  He  did  much  work  for 
the  church  while  retired  from  the  itinerancy.  There  were  few 
men  more  gifted  and  cultivated,  and  it  was  a  great  loss  to  the 
church  that  he  was  compelled  to  retire. 

Newdaygate  B.  Ousley,  the  son  of  Newdaygate  Ousley  of 
whom  we  have  written,  gave  himself  to  the  itinerancy  this  year; 
but  removing  afterward  to  Lower  Georgia,  he  transferred  to 
the  Florida  Conference.  After  1866,  when  the  Georgia  territory 
was  taken  from  the  Florida  Conference,  he  was  in  the  South 
Georgia  Conference,  in  which  he  did  good  work  as  a  preacher 
and  Presiding  Elder.  He  finally  located  and  died  suddenly  in 
1893.  He  was  a  man  of  very  aimable  temper,  very  sincere  and 
genial,  and  was  much  esteemed. 

George  W.  Yarbrough,  the  son  of  John  W.  Yarbrough,  was 


308  History  of 

graduated  at  Emory  College,  and  at  once  entered  into  the  traveling 
connection  and  is  still  a  worker  in  the  North  Georgia  Conference. 
Dr.  Yarbrough  is  a  man  of  very  superior  mental  endowments, 
and  is  a  very  fine  writer  and  has  had  the  best  stations  and  dis- 
tricts in  his  Conference.  He  is  a  high  toned,  cultivated,  upright 
and  able  man.  With  a  wonderful  amount  of  original  humor, 
which  bubbles  out  on  all  occasions ;  with  an  optimism  which  is 
tropical  in  its  luxuriance ;  with  a  fondness  for  epigrammatic 
speech,  and  withal  with  a  good  natured  heartiness  of  manner,  he 
is  a  delightful  preacher  and  companion.  He  is  still  vigorous  and 
bids  fair  to  live  many  years. 

Edward  J.  Rentz,  a  steady  young,  intelligent,  pious  man,  and 
a  good  preacher,  did  years  of  active  work  and  passed  away. 

George  G.  Smith,  the  compiler  of  this  history,  came  to  this 
Conference  in  his  twenty-first  year,  and  in  some  relation  has  con- 
tinued his  connection  with  the  itinerant  ministry  to  this  time. 

David  R.  McWilliams  still  lives  (1912),  a  superannuated 
preacher  of  the  South  Georgia  Conference — a  man  of  very  fine 
character  and  strong  intellect. 

The  depressing  report  of  the  Conference  of  1857  was  to  be 
followed  by  the  cheering  and  phenomenal  one  of  1858.  One  of 
those  remarkable  revivals  which  have  periodically  blessed  the 
churches  had  swept  over  the  entire  land.  Beginning  at  Philadel- 
phia, the  tidal  wave  had  gone  in  every  direction.  It  was  a  re- 
markable work,  distinguished  especially  by  the  part  which  so 
many  prominent  laymen  took  in  it.  It  was  especially  sweeping 
in  the  cities,  and  among  business  men.  The  villages  and  the 
country  charges  were  also  greatly  blessed.  The  report  of  the 
Secretary  at  the  Conference  was  that  in  probationers  and  mem- 
bers, black  and  white,  there  was  an  increase  of  near  6,000  mem- 
bers. The  collections  too  had  taken  on  new  life,  and  the  mission- 
ary collection  had  reached  over  $23,000,  an  increase  of  nearly 
$5,000.  The  collection  for  superannuates  had  reached  $9,123 
over  $2,000  more  than  had  been  collected  the  previous  year. 

The  Conference  for  1858  met  in  Columbus,  December  15th, 
and  remained  in  session  until  the  23d,  Bishop  Pierce  presiding. 

Although  he  had  been  a  Bishop  for  four  years,  this  was  the 
first  time  he  had  presided  over  his  old  Conference.  He  was  now 
in  his  most  vigorous  manhood,  and  the  fearful  shock  to  his 
health  a  few  years  afterward  which  he  received  in  California, 
so  reduced  him  that  those  who  knew  him  only  after  that  could 
hardly  realize  how  he  appeared  before  it.  He  presided  with  great 
ability  and  to  the  delight  of  all,  and  his  sermon  on  Sunday  was 


Georgia  Methodism.  309 

one  of  his  most  masterly  efforts.  He  had  resolved  to  make  some 
decided  changes  in  administration,  and  there  was  a  great  up- 
heaval. He  put  a  great  estimate  on  the  Presiding  Eldership,  and 
determined  to  man  the  districts  with  young  men;  and  so  Payne, 
Simmons,  Anthony,  Glenn,  Knox,  gave  place  to  Clarke,  Jewett, 
Hinton,  Lewis  B.  Payne,  and  Davies. 

The  change  to  circuits  and  stations  of  these  old  Presiding 
Elders,  and  the  many  changes  in  appointments,  made  quite  a 
sensation;  but  all  had  confidence  that  the  readjustment  had  been 
wisely  made. 

The  class  was  quite  a  large  one,  one  of  the  largest  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Conference :  Thomas  J.  Staley,  Thomas  B.  Lanier, 
John  J.  Morgan,  James  L.  Neese,  Levi  P.  Neese,  Britton  Sanders, 
Theodore  A.  Pharr,  Young  J.  Allen,  Thomas  S.  Tyson,  James 
L.  Lupo,  Thomas  T.  Arnold,  Olin  S.  Means,  Charles  Moore, 
Moses  A.  Leak,  W.  C.  D.  Perry,  Lucius  C.  Fambro,  Cailesman 
Pope,  James  Y.  Bryce,  John  J.  Boring,  John  Patillo,  John  Mur- 
phy, Columbus  W.  Howard,  E.  A.  H.  McGhee,  Ham  G.  Horton, 
Lake  R.  McNamar,  John  F.  Berry,  John  W.  Simmons.  The 
effects  of  the  great  religious  revival  were  manifest  in  the  in- 
crease of  candidates  for  the  itinerant  work.  This  class  was  re- 
markable for  the  number  of  college  graduates,  and  furnished 
the  first  foreign  missionary  since  the  days  of  John  B.  Barton, 
who  died  in  Africa.  Young  J.  Allen,  afterward  so  famous,  was 
received  on  trial  this  year. 

Lake  R.  McNamar,  whose  name  appears,  was  a  Marylander, 
who  only  spent  a  short  time  in  Georgia  and  returned  to  his  na- 
tive State. 

Britton  Sanders,  who  was  admitted  at  this  Conference,  and 
who  after  near  fifty  years  of  hard  service  was  superannuated, 
was  from  Madison  County,  Georgia,  in  the  hill  country  of  upper 
Georgia.  His  parents  were  sturdy  farmers,  and  with  good  com- 
mon school  training  he  came  from  the  farm  to  the  pulpit.  He 
served  a  few  years  in  the  army  and  was  a  faithful  and  brave 
soldier.  He  has  done  much  hard  work  and  is  greatly  beloved 
as  a  useful,  laborious  pastor. 

Olin  S.  Means  was  a  son  of  Dr.  Alexander  Means,  a  pure 
young  man  who  traveled  but  a  few  years. 

John  J.  Morgan  came  into  the  Conference  at  this  time  and  died 
in  the  work  thirty  years  after  it.  He  was  a  teacher  of  a  country 
school,  and  then  a  man  of  middle  life,  though  unmarried.  He 
never  married.     He  was  a  very  sincere  man  who  had  very  de- 


310  History  of 

cided  peculiarities.  He  was  never  a  successful  pastor,  but  was 
never  a  discouraged  one.  He  went  on  his  way  to  the  end,  doing 
the  best  he  could,  and  faithful  to  the  work  assigned  him. 

James  L.  Lupo  was  a  plain,  unpretending,  sensible  man,  of 
no  striking  qualities.  He  did  his  work  faithfully  and  bore  a 
spotless  reputation  until  his  death  thirty  years  afterward. 

John  F.  Berry,  a  young  man  of  good  mind  and  moderate  edu- 
cation, whose  piety  and  whose  devotion  to  his  work  was  unques- 
tionable, was  struck  by  lightning  at  his  parsonage  window  after 
he  had  traveled  a  few  years. 

W.  C.  D.  Perry,  a  modest,  retiring,  faithful  man,  in  the  third 
year  of  his  itinerancy  was  attacked  with  smallpox  and  died.  He 
was  a  good  man  of  good  parts  and  promised  to  be  quite  useful. 

Dr.  Young  J.  Allen,  the  veteran  missionary  to  China,  entered 
the  Conference  this  year.  He  was  left  an  orphan  in  his  infancy, 
without  brother  or  sister,  and  was  the  heir  of  considerable  wealth. 
He  was  brought  up  by  a  kinsman,  and  when  about  sixteen  years 
old,  while  at  school  near  Starrsville,  in  Newton  County,  he  was 
soundly  converted.  He  went  to  Emory  and  Henry  College  for 
a  year,  and  then  came  to  Oxford  to  Emory  College,  where  he 
graduated.  He  was  when  he  graduated  quite  young,  but  was  a 
mature  man  beyond  his  years.  Faithful  to  all  his  duties,  resolved 
to  be  a  missionary,  he  turned  all  his  studies  in  that  direction. 
He  graduated;  married;  sold  his  plantation  and  slaves,  and  of- 
fered himself  to  the  board  of  missions.  He  was  accepted  and 
ordered  to  China.  He  went  at  once  to  Shanghai  and  began  his 
work.  The  War  Between  the  States  came  and  he  was  entirely 
cut  off-  from  home.  His  colleagues,  all  save  one,  were  forced  to 
return  home.  He  was  offered  a  place  in  other  missions,  but  he 
held  on  his  way,  a  representative  of  the  M.  E.  Church  South. 
He  was  forced  to  take  a  place  as  teacher  and  translator  for  the 
Chinese  Government.  As  a  teacher  of  English  and  a  translator, 
he  was  placed  in  a  very  responsible  place.  He  held  this  place 
until  things  at  home  were  in  better  condition  after  the  war,  and 
held  the  mission  together.  After  matters  allowed  it,  he  resigned 
from  the  Government  service,  and  was  for  years  exclusively 
in  the  service  of  the  Church.  He  was  perhaps  the  leading  mis- 
sionary of  all  nations  in  the  Chinese  Empire.  He  was  a  man  of 
immense  industry,  untiring  and  thoroughly  consecrated  to  his 
work,  a  philosopher,  a  statesman,  as  well  as  a  preacher,  and 
did  a  work  for  China  not  surpassed  by  any  man  of  his  time. 
He  died  at  seventy-two  years  old  while  at  work  in  his  chosen 
field. 


Georgia  Methodism.  311 

Charles  A.  Moore  entered  the  Conference  at  this  session.  A 
good  man  of  sterling  character,  he  has  done  much  good  work 
on  hard  fields. 

Edward  A.  H.  McGhee,  known  as  Howard  McGhee,  is  a 
brother  of  J.  B.  McGhee.  He  is  of  old  Methodist  stock,  and  has 
been  an  acceptable  and  useful  preacher  for  fifty  years.  After 
he  traveled  for  over  thirty  years,  he  was  thrown  from  his  buggy 
and  leg  broken.  He  recovered,  and  although  somewhat  disabled, 
has  gone  vigorously  on  his  work.  He  is  a  man  of  excellent  mind, 
good  education,  air^  preaches  acceptably. 

James  Y.  Bryce  was  transferred  at  this  Conference  to  Arkansas. 

Hamilton  G.  Horton  left  his  printer's  case  in  Milledgeville  to 
join  the  Conference,  and  was  transferred  at  once  to  West  Texas. 
He  was  sent  to  the  extreme  frontier  on  the  Uvalde  Mission. 
Here  he  faced  the  hostile  Comanchee  and  endured  all  the  hard- 
ships of  the  new  settled  land.  He  did  his  work  heroically,  and 
when  the  war  began  he  entered  the  army  as  Chaplain.  He  never 
returned  Eastward,  but  still  abides  in  Texas,  an  honored  superan- 
nuate of  the  West  Texas  Conference. 

John  W.  Simmons  graduated  at  Emory  College;  joined  the 
Conference,  and  volunteered  for  California,  and  accompanied 
Bishop  Pierce  on  his  overland  trip.  He  was  with  him  during  the 
whole  journey  of  which  Bishop  Pierce  gave  so  graphic  an  account 
in  his  letters  to  The  Advocate.  He  remained  in  California  until 
the  war  began,  when  finding  that  his  way  to  usefulness  was 
hedged  up  by  his  pronounced  Southern  sympathies,  he  resolved 
to  break  through  the  lines  and  return  to  his  section.  He  made 
his  way  into  Mexico,  and  after  many  perils  he  finally  reached 
Texas,  where  he  joined  the  Confederate  Army.  After  the  war 
he  went  into  the  regular  work,  and  in  it  he  did  much  hard  and 
faithful  work,  and  never  relaxed  his  zeal  and  energy. 

Thomas  B.  Lanier,  a  man  of  gifts  and  piety,  and  an  excellent 
and  popular  preacher  and  pastor,  now  began  his  work  and  served 
the  church  usefully  for  some  time,  filling  acceptably  a  number 
of  circuits.  His  health  failing,  he  studied  medicine  and  took  a 
supernumerary  relation,  from  which  he  afterward  was  superan- 
nuated. He  resided  for  some  years  in  the  growing  city  of  Millen, 
where  he  exerted  an  excellent  influence  for  the  church. 

Robert  F.  Williamson,  who  came  into  the  Conference,  was  the 
son  of  a  wealthy  planter  in  Pike  County,  a  man  of  fine  spirit, 
good  mind,  and  true  piety;  has  been,  and  at  this  time  (1912) 
continues  to  be  a  very  useful  and  acceptable  preacher,  at  present 
at  work  in  the  South  Georgia  Conference. 


312  History  of 

Atticus  G.  Haygood,  afterward  Sunday  School  Secretary,  Pres- 
ident of  Emory  College,  Editor  of  The  Wesleyan  Christian  Ad- 
vocate, Agent  of  the  Slater  Fund,  and  twice  elected  Bishop, — a 
youth  of  twenty,  entered  the  Conference  at  this  time. 

He  was  the  grandson  on  his  mother's  side,  of  Josiah  Askew, 
one  of  the  early  Methodist  preachers  and  a  nephew  of  his  gifted 
son,  Josiah  Askew,  Jr.  His  father  was  Green  B.  Haygood,  Esq., 
a  prominent  lawyer  of  Atlanta.  Bishop  Haygood  was  most  care- 
fully educated  in  the  junior  branches  by  his  mother.  He  studied 
the  classics  at  a  High  School  in  Atlanta,  and  went  thence  to  the 
Sophomore  Class  in  Emory  College  where  he  was  graduated  the 
summer  before  he  entered  the  Conference.  He  married  as  soon 
as  he  completed  his  course,  the  daughter  of  Rev.  John  W.  Yar- 
brough,  and  entered  the  work  a  married  man.  From  the  day 
he  entered,  he  made  constant  progress.  As  Secretary  of  the 
Conference,  as  Presiding  Elder,  as  pastor  on  city  charges,  he 
early  evinced  his  very  remarkable  capacity  and  his  entire  devotion 
to  the  work  of  the  church.  He  was  elected  the  first  Sunday 
School  Secretary,  and  was  recalled  to  Georgia  to  take  the  presi- 
dency of  Emory  College,  which  was  then  in  sore  need.  He  did 
a  wonderful  work  for  this  institution ;  and  while  president  of 
the  college,  was  also  editor  of  The  Wesleyan  Christian  Advocate. 
He  was  elected  Bishop  at  the  General  Conference  of  1882  by  a 
handsome  majority,  but  felt  compelled  at  that  time  to  decline 
the  office.  He  was  afterwards  chosen  as  agent  of  the  Slater 
Fund,  a  great  benevolence  directed  to  the  negroes.  He  filled  this 
place  with  signal  ability.  He  resigned  this  position  in  1890,  and 
was  again  elected  Bishop.  He  then  yielded  to  the  will  of  his 
brethren  and  for  five  years  was  most  efficient  in  his  work.  He 
was  an  untiring  worker,  and  naturally  of  strong  frame  he  did 
not  think  he  could  break  down;  but  after  a  severe  attack  of  the 
grippe,  other  fatal  symptoms  appeared,  and  he  died  when  he 
was  but  sixty  years  old,  and  while  his  mind  was  in  greatest  vigor. 
He  was  not  only  a  great  preacher  and  a  great  journalist,  but  a 
writer  of  unusual  ability.  He  took  a  high  place  among  American 
authors,  and  no  Southern  writer  has  been  so  widely  read  away 
from  home  or  so  highly  commended.  In  the  pulpit  and  on  the 
platform  he  was  a  man  of  great  power.  His  chasteness  of  lan- 
guage, his  epigrammatic  sentences,  his  remarkable  insight,  and  his 
absolute  fearlessness,  connected  with  an  undercurrent  of  deep 
emotionalism  and  oftentimes  a  current  of  irresistible  humor,  made 
him  one  of  the  most  popular  of  public  speakers. 

He  took  much  interest  in  public  affairs  and  exerted  a  mighty 


Bishop  W.  A.  Candler. 


Rev.  C.  K.  Jenkins,  D.D. 
President  Wesleyan    Female  College, 


Georgia  Methodism.  315 

influence  in  the  State  in  favor  of  temperance,  education  and  re- 
ligion. Noble,  unselfish,  generous,  he  drew  all  to  him  by  his 
magnanimity.  No  man  of  his  time  exerted  so  wide  an  influence 
for  good  to  his  people  among  those  who  were  out  of  their  limits. 
He  was  highly  honored  and  greatly  beloved,  and  his  early  death 
seemed  to  human  eye  to  be  a  calamity  of  no  common  order. 

The  Conference  of  1859  met  for  the  first  time  in  the  young 
city  of  Rome,  Bishop  Kavanaugh  presiding.  It  continued  in  ses- 
sion for  seven  days.  As  is  often  the  case  after  great  revivals, 
there  came  a  time  of  reaction  and  the  large  increase  of  proba- 
tioners during  the  phenomenal  revival  of  1857  was  followed  by 
a  decrease  of  over  2,000. 

The  usage  of  the  church  in  those  days  was  to  take  in  all  who 
applied  on  probation,  and  often  the  next  pastor  finding  them 
unprepared  to  assume  the  vows,  simply  dropped  them.  There 
were,  however,  saved  out  of  the  probationers  of  the  year  before 
1442,  who  were  received  into  full  connection,  and  there  were 
still  over  6,000  left  on  trial.  The  collections  were  still  grow- 
ing, and  there  was  $24,631  collected  for  missions.  It  had  been 
decided  to  have  a  Book  Depository  at  Macon,  and  John  W. 
Burke  had  been  appointed  the  agent.  To  raise  a  working  capital 
he  had  canvassed  the  State  and  reported  over  $3,000  raised  for 
it.  It  began  a  career  of  great  usefulness  and  promised  to  be 
quite  successful,  when  the  war  came  on  and  brought  disaster 
with  it. 

Robert  A.  Seale,  Gibson  C.  Andrews,  Ebenezer  G.  Murrah, 
Charles  M.  Smith,  Joseph  J.  Singleton,  John  P.  Guest,  Robert 
H.  Jones,  James  D.  Anthony,  James  T.  Lowe,  John  A.  Reynolds, 
Marshall,  G.  Jenkins,  R.  F.  Jones,  Robert  H.  Rogers,  Thomas 
J.  Embry,  David  D.  Henry,  Sanford  Leake,  James  A.  Baugh. 
Of  these  seventeen,  John  P.  Guest,  M.  G.  Jenkins,  David  D. 
Henry,  James  A.  Baugh,  and  R.  Frazer  Jones  were  not  received 
into  full  connection,  discontinuing  their  Conference  connection. 

Gibson  C.  Andrews  died  a  superannuated  preacher — a  meek, 
modest,  retiring,  pure  man. 

Ebenezer  G.  Murrah,  after  years  of  activity  and  zealous  work, 
on  account  of  impaired  health  became  a  superannuate,  and  is  still 
living  (1912). 

Sanford  Leake  is  also  living,  a  superannuate. 


316  History  of 

Robert  A.  Seale,  who  began  his  life  work  at  this  Conference, 
was  destined  to  spend  a  long  life  in  the  service  of  the  church. 
Never  a  strong  man,  he  was  for  some  years  a  supernumerary; 
then  he  was  active  and  did  good  work  for  years,  and  then  super- 
annuated, in  which  relation  he  died  in  19 12. 

James  T.  Lowe  sprang  from  an  excellent  family  in  Chattooga 
County.  He  entered  the  Conference  before  he  was  of  age.  The 
war  came  on  and  he  entered  the  army  and  bore  his  part  bravely 
until  the  close.  He  is  still  a  useful  superannuated  worker  in  the 
Conference  whose  ministry  has  known  no  intermission.  He  is 
a  man  of  remarkably  strong  mind,  fresh,  original,  full  of  unction, 
and  by  his  brethren  unusually  trusted  and  beloved,  whose  min- 
istry has  been  a  blessing  to  any  people  among  whom  his  lot 
has  been  cast. 

The  decades  which  are  under  survey  in  this  chapter  form  the 
end  of  an  epoch  and  with  the  beginning  of  a  new  year,  a  new 
era.  They  had  been  years  remarkable  in  many  ways.  Some  of 
their  features  we  have  considered  as  we  have  looked  into  the 
events  of  each  year,  but  there  were  some  which  did  not  specially 
belong  to  the  distinct  period  we  were  considering.  Nor  perhaps 
did  all  the  matters  now  glanced  at  have  their  beginning  during 
these  five  years.  There  had  been  decided  changes  in  the  State ; 
the  up-country  had  developed  very  rapidly,  and  so  had  South- 
western Georgia.  Railroads  were  being  steadily  constructed. 
From  Atlanta  to  West  Point ;  from  Savannah  to  Thomasville ; 
from  Macon  to  Columbus ;  and  with  the  coming  of  the  railways 
there  had  come  the  flourishing  towns  along  the  way.  Although 
there  had  been  a  panic  and  the  banks  had  suspended  specie  pay- 
ment, the  suspension  had  been  legalized,  and  their  issues  were 
still  readily  used  at  home,  while  gold  was  to  be  secured  in  suffi- 
cient amount  for  all  foreign  trade. 

During  the  ten  years  which  are  under  survey,  the  State  of 
Georgia  had  advanced  rapidly  on  all  material  lines.  The  rail- 
roads had  been  extended  to  Columbus  and  Montgomery  on  the 
West.  Cotton  factories  were  erected  in  all  parts  of  the  State. 
The  population  of  the  newly  settled  sections  had  grown  rapidly. 
The  growth  of  the  church  had  been  very  rapid  in  both  Northwest 
and  Southwest  Georgia.  The  Southwestern  Railroad  had  reached 
Albany,  and  the  country  along  the  W.  &  A.  R.  R.,  from  Atlanta 
to  Chattanooga,  was  filling  up  very  rapidly  with  substantial  peo- 
ple. There  were  now  in  Southwest  Georgia.  Lumpkin,  Americus, 
and  Cuthbert,  stations,  and  in  Northwest  Georgia,  Marietta  and 
Rome.     There  were  great  changes  in  Middle  Georgia  which  had 


Georgia  Methodism.  317 

been  imperceptibly  making  their  way  for  a  number  of  years  and 
changing  the  character  of  the  work.  The  smaller  farms  had  been 
largely  absorbed  by  the  great  plantations.  The  planter  lived  in 
the  country  town  or  in  the  city,  and  left  the  plantation  in  charge 
of  the  overseer;  and  where  there  had  been  at  one  time  thickly 
settled  neighborhoods,  there  were  now  only  a  few  plantations. 
The  little  villages  in  which  the  planters  resided  clamored  for 
regular  services  on  the  Sabbath,  and  became  segregated  from 
the  circuit ;  so  Washington,  Sparta,  Madison,  Oxford,  Coving- 
ton, LaGrange,  West  Point,  Griffin,  Talbotton,  Lumpkin,  Cuth- 
bert  and  Americus  were  stations.  This  disposition  was  very 
sternly  resisted  at  first,  and  it  was  feared  the  effect  would  be 
disastrous.  But  the  country  churches  were  soon  found  to  be 
benefited  by  the  change.  There  had  been  decided  changes  in 
the  new  country,  but  it  was  in  the  growth  of  strong  and  popu- 
lous circuits.  While  the  middle  part  of  the  State  was  losing  its 
white  people,  and  many  sections  of  it  becoming  a  great  negro 
quarter,  the  upper  country  was  being  rapidly  populated  and 
some  of  the  circuits  were  enormously  large.  The  Cassville,  the 
Summerville,  the  LaFayette,  the  Marietta  covered  territory 
enough  to  provide  for  a  district.  Most  of  these  circuits  had 
two  preachers,  a  senior  and  a  junior,  and  in  most  of  them  large 
numbers  of  appointments  were  filled  on  week  day,  and  the  weekly 
services  were  largely  attended.  The  camp  meetings  were  still 
in  high  favor,  but  the  protracted  meeting  was  becoming  more 
common. 

The  number  of  educated  men  was  largely  increased,  and  while 
much  the  largest  number  of  the  preachers  were  without  classical 
training,  there  were  quite  a  number  of  college  graduates  in  the 
conference.  A  very  decided  change  had  imperceptibly  crept  into 
the  conference.  The  rigorous  enforcement  of  discipline  was  no 
longer  attempted.  Women  wore  rings,  ruffles  and  ribbons,  with- 
out rebuke,  and  men  neglected  family  prayer  and  did  not  go 
to  class  meeting,  with  no  other  penalty  than  a  general  rebuke 
from  the  pulpit.  The  old  straight-breasted  coat  was  still  worn  by 
many  of  the  preachers ;  but  the  young  men  did  not  follow  the  ex- 
ample of  their  older  brothers,  and  sometimes  one  was  found  dar- 
ing enough  to  let  a  part  of  his  beard  grow.  As  yet,  however,  no 
one  would  have  dared  to  have  worn  a  mustache. 

There  was  a  constant  disposition  to  advance  along  lines  of  lib- 
erality. The  old  churches  were  gradually  giving  way,  and  more 
comely  structures  were  taking  their  places.  Among  the  advanced 
measures  of  these  days,  the  establishment  in  all  the  cities  of  city 


318  History  of 

missions  was  one.  Savannah,  Columbus,  Macon  and  Augusta 
had  each  a  gifted  young  man  set  apart  for  this  work. 

The  General  Conference  had,  at  Nashville,  in  May,  1858,  set 
on  foot  some  new  plans  for  the  distribution  of  literature,  and  the 
Georgia  Conference  had  now  a  flourishing  depository  under  the 
direction  of  John  W.  Burke.  As  will  be  seen  in  the  chapter  on 
the  colleges,  there  has  been  large  advance  on  that  line.  There 
was  a  constant  disposition  to  make  small  stations  of  the  country 
towns.  West  Point  and  Jonesboro,  Dalton  and  Covington  in 
1857;  Eatonton  in  1858;  Forsyth  in  1859;  Dahlonega  in  i860. 
The  circuits  had  divided  and  most  of  them  in  Middle  Georgia 
reduced  to  eight  appointments,  with  two  preachers  upon  them. 
Weekday  preaching  was  not  yet  abandoned  even  in  Middle  Geor- 
gia on  the  Burke  Circuit  in  1857,  a  midweek  service  was  held 
monthly  in  all  the  churches,  and  on  the  Monroe  Circuit  by 
preaching  twice  on  Sunday  all  the  churches  had  Sunday  preach- 
ing and  a  service  in  the  middle  of  the  week.  The  tendency,  how- 
ever, was  simply  to  a  Saturday  and  Sunday  service  alone.  There 
were  some  of  the  churches  which  could  not  get  Sunday  preaching, 
and  in  the  large  circuits  of  the  up  country  there  were  many 
neighborhoods  in  which  there  was  only  weekday  preaching.  The 
church  buildings  in  the  rural  districts  were  very  uncomely  and 
uncomfortable.  In  the  towns  and  villages,  however,  there  was 
a  steady  improvement  in  this  direction.  In  Griffin,  LaGrange, 
Covington,  Madison,  Eatonton,  Talbotton,  Sandersville,  very 
creditable  churches  had  been  built.  Up  to  this  time  there  had 
been  no  organs  or  rented  pews  in  the  church,  but  a  number  of 
wealthy  people  in  Columbus  erected  a  second  church  in  which 
there  was  placed  an  organ,  and  for  a  time  the  pews  were  rented. 

Very  considerable  changes  had  passed  over  Methodism  in 
Georgia  during  the  five  years  we  have  surveyed.  The  country 
was  improving  rapidly  in  the  direction  of  education.  There  were 
now  Franklin  College  in  Athens,  Emory  in  Oxford,  Oglethorpe 
near  Milledgeville,  Mercer  in  Penfield — all  male  colleges  which 
were  well  patronized.  In  all  the  villages  and  towns  there  were 
academics  under  the  control  of  a  classical  teacher,  and  in  many 
country  neighborhoods  there  were  schools  of  high  grade.  While 
there  were  no  public  schools  as  they  are  known  now,  there  was  a 
liberal  system  of  State  aid  to  poor  scholars,  and  in  Augusta,  Sa- 
vannah and  Macon  there  were  free  schools  for  those  who  were 
unable  to  pay  their  way  at  the  academies.  There  were  few  sec- 
tions of  Middle  Georgia  in  which  there  were  not  good  schools  of 
primary  grade.     This,  however,  could  not  be  said  of  the  wire- 


Georgia  Methodism.  319 

grass  country  and  of  the  mountains.     Here,  as  a  general  thing, 
the  schools  were  of  very  ordinary  kind. 

The  applicants  for  admission  into  the  conference  were  not  re- 
quired to  pass  any  examination  on  the  elementary  branches  or 
any  other.  Licensed  and  recommended,  they  were  admitted  by 
a  vote  of  the  conference,  and  the  question  was  as  to  the  piety  and 
preaching  power  of  the  applicants. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Days  of  Darkness. 

i  860- i  866. 

The  Conference  of  i860  met  in  Augusta,  November  27th,  and 
continued  in  session  until  the  7th  of  December,  Bishop  Pierce 
presiding. 

Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  elected  President  of  the  United  States. 
It  was  evident  that  a  party  which  had  determined  on  the  abolition 
of  slavery  was  the  victorious  one.  For  years  the  Southern  peo- 
ple had  been  convinced  that  the  overthrow  of  negro  slavery  was 
the  overthrow  of  their  civilization.  That  they  were  mistaken  in 
this  opinion  has  been  proven  to  be  true,  but  it  was  nevertheless 
entertained.  The  issue  of  the  election  had  not  even  been  dreamed, 
much  less  expected;  and  at  the  time  the  conference  met  the  coun- 
try was  in  a  state  of  panic.  The  year  had  been  a  wonderfully 
successful  one  in  church  circles.  There  was  an  increase  of  5,000 
white  and  colored  members  and  probationers.  The  missionary 
collection  rose  to  nearly  $29,000.  For  the  conference  depository 
$5,133  had  been  collected  and  subscribed.  Although  the  political 
campaign  had  been  a  heated  one,  the  interests  of  the  church  had 
advanced  in  all  sections.  It  was  never  more  harmonious  and 
prosperous  than  during  the  last  days  of  the  old  regime.  Before 
it  met  again  the  face  of  the  country  was  changed. 

There  were  admitted  on  trial  Norman  D.  Morehouse,  Henry. 
D.  Murphy,  Jesse  Richardson,  Walton  T.  Holland,  John  R.  Par- 
ker, George  L.  W.  Anthony,  Hezekiah  H.  Porter,  John  M. 
Lowry,  James  L.  Fowler,  Josiah  Harkey,  W.  W.  Oslin,  W.  A. 
Rogers,  Wesley  Lane,  James  R.  Stewart,  William  W.  Stewart, 
Leonidas  R.  Redding,  J.  Sloman  Ashmore,  and  R.  N.  Andrews. 
Of  these,  however,  Jesse  Richardson,  Walton  T.  Holland,  J.  C. 
Ashmore,  and  Robert  N.  Andrews  only  traveled  a  short  time. 
Henry  D.  Murphy  traveled  for  eight  years,  and  then  located.  G. 
L.  W.  Anthony  located  after  a  short  service.  L.  R.  Redding 
transferred  to  Mississippi.  Josiah  Harkey  died  while  on  trial. 
W.  A.  Rogers  was  always  a  teacher,  but  did  good  service  as  ac- 
ceptable preacher  for  over  twenty-five  years,  and  then  located. 

J.  R.  Parker  remained  in  the  conference  as  long  as  he  lived. 
He  was  a  man  of  unusual  ability,  good  mind,  and  was  well  edu- 
cated. He  was  highly  esteemed,  both  as  a  pastor  and  a  preacher, 
and  his  Christian  character  was  without  stain  when  he  died. 


Georgia  Methodism.  321 

Norman  D.  Morehouse  was  a  modest,  thoughtful,  gifted  man, 
who  did  faithful  work,  and  died  in  the  work.  He  was  a  very 
excellent  preacher,  far  above  the  ordinary,  and  an  exceedingly 

lovable  man.  ,  ,  , 

Tohn  M.  Lowry  was  the  son  of  a  local  preacher  and  a  nephew 
of  Tohn  W.  Yarbrough.  He  was  a  young  fellow  of  very  good 
education  and  very  studious  habits,  and  gentle  courteous  man- 
ners; sensitive  and  retiring,  and  was  most  highly  esteemed  by 
those  who  knew  him  best.  He  was  not  a  strong  man  and  fear- 
ing a  breakdown  in  health  he  studied  medicine,  and  for  awhile 
practised  his  profession,  but  returned  to  the  ministry  and  in  it  he 
died  after  over  thirty  years  of  laborious  service. 

W  W  Oslin  was  a  grandson  of  the  celebrated  Nicholas  Wa- 
ters 'one  of  the  first  Methodist  preachers  in  the  South  and  in 
America.  He  was  a  man  of  great  faithfulness,  a  good  preacher, 
and  a  fine  singer.    He  died  in  the  work. 

Wesley  Lane  never  intermitted  his  ministerial  work  tor  over 
fifty  years  He  is  a  gentle,  prudent,  thoughtful,  patient  man, 
who  has  done  much  hard  work  and  done  it  well.     He  is  still 

1V\Vg  W  Stewart  is  still  a  member  of  the  South  Georgia  Con- 
ference. He  has  long  been  most  highly  esteemed  as  an  unassum- 
ing  faithful,  sensible  and  useful  preacher. 

These  were  the  workers  who  went  forth  to  find  everything  in 
wild  commotion,  and  there  was  little  hope  for  anything  like  suc- 
cessful work  in  the  fields  to  which  they  were  assigned. 

The  Conference  of  i860  closed  in  a  time  of  almost  insane  ex- 
citement The  alarm  of  the  Southern  people  was  hardly  greater 
than  their  astonishment,  and  sturdy  Unionists  found  themselves 
side  by  side  with  Secessionists,  to  whom  they  had  been  for  a  life- 
time opposed.  Little  was  thought  or  spoken  of  but  secession.  It 
was  an  absolute  necessity,  men  thought,  to  salvation  from  utter 
ruin  It  was  not  passion  or  resentment,  but  a  firmly  entertained 
conviction  that  this  was  the  only  remedy.  Not  many  expected 
war  as  the  result  of  secession.  They  thought  if  the  South  was 
willing  to  give  up  all  the  benefits  of  the  Union,  the  North  would 
be  glad  to  be  rid  of  a  people  for  whom  it  had  so  little  regard 
because  of  their  connection  with  slavery.  But  war  did  come,  and 
for  four  years  the  South  was  a  camp.  There  was  a  gathering  of 
the  clans.  Camp  grounds  were  made  parade  grounds,  and  the 
tents  were  used  as  quarters.  Preachers  were  elected  officers  of 
companies  and  regiments,  or  they  left  their  charges  to  go  as  chap- 
lains of  regiments.     There  was   nothing  talked  of  or  thought 


322  History  of 

about  except  war;  and  it  is  no  wonder  that  there  was  a  decrease 
in  probationers.  There  was,  however,  a  slight  increase  in  mem- 
bers. The  falling  off  in  the  collections,  as  was  to  be  expected, 
was  very  great.  The  missionary  collection  fell  from  near  thirty 
thousand  to  seventeen  thousand,  and  the  collection  for  superan- 
nuated preachers  fell  correspondingly. 

There  was,  however,  no  considerable  derangement  in  church 
work.  No  enemy  had  invaded  Georgia  or  threatened  her  coasts. 
The  strife  was  in  the  West  and  in  Virginia,  and  as  yet  the  pres- 
sure of  want  was  not  felt.  There  was  little  religious  interest.  A 
revival  was  almost  impossible  under  the  existing  circumstances 
of  the  wild  days. 

Reverend  William  M.  Crumley  went  to  Virginia  as  chaplain  in 
the  hospitals.  Alexander  M.  Thigpen,  T.  H.  Jordan,  John  A. 
Reynolds,  George  G.  Smith,  John  H.  Mashburn,  W.  H.  Sim- 
mons, W.  H.  C.  Cone,  John  W.  Talley  and  James  B.  Jackson 
were  chaplains  in  the  army,  while  Britton  Sanders,  David  Starr, 
R.  H.  Jones,  W.  W.  Stewart,  Leonidas  Redding  and  Wiley  G. 
Parks,  were  in  the  army  as  privates  or  officers.  There  was  now 
almost  an  entire  cessation  of  the  class  meetings  since  the  class 
leaders  had  gone  to  the  front ;  but  the  routine  work  was  still 
done. 

The  Conference  of  1861  met  in  Atlanta  in  December.  There 
were  admitted  on  trial:  Benjamin  W.  Williams,  Isaac  S.  T.  Hop- 
kins, William  A.  J.  Fulton,  John  W.  Neese,  Anderson  J.  Jarrell, 
John  R.  Gaines,  John  K.  Leake,  Franklin  A.  Robertson,  William 
B.  Merritt,  I.  Tabor  Payne.  Of  these  Benjamin  W.  Williams, 
John  W.  Neese,  Franklin  A.  Robertson,  W.  B.  Merritt  and  I. 
Tabor  Payne  only  travelled  a  short  time. 

John  K.  Leake  was  one  of  the  most  gifted  young  men  of  his 
class.  He  had  graduated  with  high  honors  at  Emory  College, 
travelled  only  a  short  time,  and  was  elected  to  the  presidency  of 
the  Andrew  Female  College,  at  Cuthbert.  He  had  just  entered 
upon  his  duties  when  he  was  taken  with  a  virulent  smallpox,  and 
died  in  the  vigor  of  his  young  manhood. 

The  class  received  was  a  small  one,  and  of  the  eleven  who 
came  in,  there  were  several  whose  conference  life  was  very 
short.  Small  as  was  the  class,  it  had  in  it  the  most  unscrupulous 
and  ingenious  villain  ever  seen  among  Georgia  preachers.  He 
was  an  Englishman,  whose  real  or  assumed  name  was  W.  A.  L 
Fulton.  In  Savannah,  at  Wesley  Chapel,  the  Reverend  H.  J. 
Adams,  pastor,  noticed  Sunday  after  Sunday  a  quiet,  well- 
dressed,  well-behaved  Englishman.     He  found  he  was  a  tailor  by 


Georgia  Methodism.  323 

trade,  and  was  employed  by  the  Reverend  Emanuel  Heidt,  a 
Methodist  local  preacher.  He  was  apparently  pious,  and  cer- 
tainly quite  intelligent.  He  claimed  to  be  a  lay  preacher  from 
among  the  Independents  from  Hull,  England.  He  decided  to 
join  the  Methodists,  and  desired  to  preach.  He  was  licensed, 
and  preached  most  ably.  He  married  a  good  lady  and  was  sent 
to  Augusta,  and  again  to  Washington.  He  won  the  confidence  of 
all,  and  with  quite  a  sum  of  money  entrusted  to  him  to  deliver  in 
Augusta,  he  fled  the  country ;  and  it  was  then  discovered  that  the 
slick  hypocrite  was  not  only  a  thief,  but  that  he  had  been  married 
many  times  and  deserted  his  wives;  that  he  had  posed  as  a 
preacher  in  other  States,  and  before  his  exposure  had  fled  to 
other  sections.  He  was  last  heard  from  as  a  murderer  who  was 
lynched  in  a  Western  territory. 

Isaac  S.  T.  Hopkins,  a  quite  gifted  young  man  who  had  just 
graduated  from  Emory  College,  entered  the  conference  this  year. 
He  sprang  from  excellent  parentage,  but  his  father  died  early, 
and  he  was  brought  up  by  a  very  saintly  mother,  a  devoted  mem- 
ber of  St.  James  Church,  in  Augusta.  Young  Hopkins  had  the 
best  educational  advantages,  and  was  converted  while  a  student 
in  Emory.  He  joined  the  conference,  and  soon  evinced  the  fact 
that  he  was  possessed  of  unusual  ability.  When  the  war  was 
over  and  Emory  College  was  in  her  greatest  stress,  he  was  called 
to  her  help.  He  bravely  stood  by  her  and  saw  her  over  the 
breakers.  He  was  called  to  the  Chancellorship  of  the  Southern 
University,  in  Alabama,  and  then  returned  to  take  a  chair  in  his 
alma  mater.  He  was  called  to  succeed  Bishop  Haygood  as  presi- 
dent, and  was  then  elected  as  president  of  the  Georgia  School  of 
Technology  in  Atlanta.  He  resigned  from  this  position  to  re- 
enter the  pastorate. 

Anderson  Joseph  Jarrell  was  from  Jones  County,  the  son  of 
a  worthy  and  wealthy  planter,  who  was  a  Primitive  Baptist. 
Young  Jarrell  was  converted  under  the  ministry  of  Miles  W. 
Arnold.  He  was  prepared  for  college  by  that  famous  teacher, 
Early  Cleveland,  and  entered  Emory  College,  where  he  finished 
his  four  years.  He  entered  the  conference  that  winter,  and  for 
oyer  thirty  years,  without  a  day's  intermission,  and  without  de- 
viating a  hair's  breadth  from  his  line  of  work,  he  continued  in 
the  pastorate.  He  began  as  junior  preacher  on  a  large  circuit, 
with  the  afterward  Bishop  Haygood  as  his  senior,  travelled  one 
year  a  mountain  circuit,  and  then  entered  the  army  as  chaplain, 
and  was  with  Lee  when  he  surrendered  at  Appomattox.  He  then 
returned  to  his  conference  and  was  sent  on  another  up-countrv 


324  History  of 

circuit,  then  was  stationed,  and  continued  as  a  station  preacher 
while  he  lived.  He  was  a  man  of  very  strong  common  sense,  had 
a  brilliant  and  poetic  imagination,  was  a  man  of  exquisite  taste, 
and  had  remarkable  dramatic  power  in  preaching.  He  was  al- 
most universally  beloved  as  a  pastor  and  preacher.  He  was  an 
earnest  advocate  for  the  experience  of  holiness  of  heart  as  it  was 
presented  by  the  Inskip  school,  and  was  for  some  years  president 
of  the  Georgia  Holiness  Association.  He  set  his  face  like  a  flint 
against  all  extravagances,  all  side  issues,  and  all  intolerance.  No 
more  remarkable  man  has  ever  been  produced  in  the  history  of 
the  Georgia  Conference  than  was  the  saintly  Jarrell,  and  none 
more  beloved  or  useful.  After  being  a  member  of  the  most  im- 
portant charges  in  the  North  and  South  Georgia  Conferences,  he 
was  transferred  to  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  where  he  remained  two  years. 
He  then  returned  to  the  North  Georgia  Conference,  and  while 
stationed  at  his  old  home  at  Cartersville  was  suddenly  attacked 
by  a  fatal  illness,  and  in  the  full  vigor  of  his  life  passed  away. 
His  son,  Rev.  Charles  C.  Jarrell,  is  now  a  member  of  the  same 
conference. 

J.  R.  Gaines  only  travelled  a  little  while,  when  he  died  at 
work. 

The  Conference  of  1862  met  in  Macon,  November  26,  and 
remained  in  session  till  December  4. 

The  war  was  raging  with  fearful  violence.  More  and  more 
troops  were  sent  to  the  front,  and  at  home  all  were  engaged  in 
trying  to  provide  for  them.  The  stores  were  largely  closed  for 
want  of  goods,  the  factories  were  unable  to  supply  the  demand 
for  their  products,  the  price  of  everything  was  advancing  with 
fearful  rapidity,  and  all  gold  and  silver  had  disappeared.  Battles 
were  fought  and  victories  won,  and  now  and  then  a  bitter  defeat 
and  reverse  depressed  the  people.  Nashville  had  fallen.  The 
armies  of  the  North  were  getting  nearer  to  our  borders,  but  still 
the  work  of  the  Church  went  on.  The  people  were  never  more 
religious,  and  faith  in  God  was  never  at  a  higher  point.  The 
Southern  people  felt  that  their  cause  was  just,  and  prayed  with 
fervor  and  confidence  for  success.  As  yet  there  was  no  invasion 
of  Georgia,  and  no  disturbance  of  the  regular  working  of  church 
machinery.  Emory  College  had  closed  its  doors,  but  the  female 
colleges  were  still  in  operation.  The  collections  were  apparently 
larger,  but  were  really  less,  for  the  money  collected  was  not 
worth  one-half  of  what  it  had  been  in  i860.  There  were  still 
accessions  to  the  church,  and  while  the  number  was  small,  it  was 


Georgia  Methodism.  325 

not  decreased.     The  probationers  and  members  added  amounted 
to  nearly  five  hundred. 

There  were  admitted  on  trial :  William  A.  Dodge,  Walton  F. 
Holland,  William  C.  Dunlap,  J.  O.  A.  Sparks,  John  F.  Ellison 
and  Benjamin  J.  Baldwin. 

The  class  of  1862  was  the  smallest  which  had  ever  been  ad- 
mitted into  the  conference  from  the  organization  up  to  that  time. 
There  were  only  six,  and  of  these  only  two  who  did  anything 
like  long-continued  work  in  Georgia.  Walton  F.  Holland,  J.  O. 
A.  Sparks,  John  F.  Ellison  and  Benjamin  J.  Baldwin,  none  of 
them  remained  long  in  the  work  in  Georgia. 

William  Asbury  Dodge,  a  burly  boy  of  eighteen,  came  to  the 
conference  and  was  sent  to  Blairsville.  He  had  sprung  from  a 
i  branch  of  the  great  family  of  the  Dodges  in  New  England,  had 
been  brought  up  a  Methodist,  had  spent  a  little  while  at  school 
in  Oxford.  He  was  good-natured,  warm-hearted,  zealous  and 
untiring.  He  was  soon  found  to  be  a  very  valuable  man,  and  was 
put  on  a  district  in  the  mountains.  While  on  this  district  he  be- 
came deeply  interested  in  the  subject  of  sanctification,  and  espe- 
cially of  his  need  for  a  deeper  work  of  grace.  He  accepted  fully 
the  views  of  Doctors  Inskip  and  McDonald,  and  after  having 
experienced  the  blessing  then  denominated  "Christian  Perfec- 
tion," he  became  an  enthusiastic  advocate  of  their  teachings.  He 
never  went  to  wild  extremes,  and  rejected  in  toto  some  of  the 
views  of  those  who  held  with  him  on  this  main  subject.  He  has 
however,  never  wavered  in  his  belief  that  there  is  a  second  bles- 
sing received  after  conversion,  which  roots  out  all  sin,  and  that 
he  had  that  blessing.  He  was  much  loved  and  highly  honored 
by  all,  even  those  who  differed  with  him  in  his  strongly  held 
views.  Mr.  Dodge  was  a  man  of  real  power  and  one  who  was 
highly  useful. 

William  C.  Dunlap  was  a  young  man  of  Presbyterian  lineage, 
but  was  converted  in  his  youth  and  joined  the  Methodists.  He 
entered  the  conference  in  December,  1862,  and  died  thirty-four 
years  afterward,  having  done  as  much  hard  and  useful  work  as 
any  man  of  his  time.  He  was  a  decided  man.  He  held  his  views 
confidently,  and  was  ready  to  hold  them  against  all  comers.  As 
he  understood  it,  he  was  a  thorough  Methodist,  and  especially 
was  the  doctrine  of  Christian  Perfection  a  precious  one  to  him. 
He  believed  he  had  the  blessing.  He  believed  all  ought  to  have 
it,  and  pressed  his  views  with  all  earnestness.  His  life  was  de- 
voted to  what  he  thought  was  his  duty.  He  was  selected  by 
Bishop   Haygood   as   Commissioner  of   Education,   and   worked 


326  History  of 

zealously  for  Paine  Institute,  and  it  was  through  his  influence 
that  Reverend  Moses  W.  Payne,  of  Missouri,  gave  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars  to  endow  the  school.  He  was  a  true  man,  highly 
valued  by  those  who  knew  his  worth. 

The  Army  of  the  West  was  now  in  upper  Georgia,  and  with  it 
was  Robert  A.  Holland,  a  young  Kentuckian  who  became  a  mem- 
ber by  transfer  of  the  Georgia  Conference.  His  youthful  ap- 
pearance, his  refined  manners,  his  genial  humor,  brilliant  mind 
and  correct  culture,  gave  him  at  once  access  to  the  hearts  and  the 
pulpits  of  the  people.  He  was  petted  and  feted  and  the  most 
wonderful  things  predicted  of  the  brilliant  youth.  He  was  re- 
ceived by  transfer,  and  it  was  earnestly  desired  and  expected 
that  he  should  be  stationed  in  one  of  the  leading  cities  at  least  as 
a  junior,  but  Bishop  Pierce  was  presiding  with  Bishop  Andrew, 
and  had  the  making  of  the  appointments.  Brilliant  as  the  young 
Kentuckian  was,  he  was  not  as  brilliant  as  the  Bishop  had  been 
when  he  was  of  his  age,  and  was  entitled  to  no  higher  considera- 
tion; and  so,  much  to  the  chagrin  of  his  friends,  the  young 
prodigy  was  sent  as  junior  preacher  on  an  excellent  circuit.  He 
remained  in  Georgia  till  the  war  closed,  married  an  excellent  and 
wealthy  Georgia  girl,  and  went  back  to  Kentucky,  and  after  a 
few  years  entered  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 

The  conference  for  1863  met  in  Columbus,  and  Bishop  Early 
for  the  last  time  presided.  The  war  had  gone  with  terrific  fury. 
Gettysburg  had  been  fought,  and  the  up  country  of  Georgia  was 
a  great  camp.  The  conscript  law  had  been  passed,  and  all  the 
able  bodied  between  fourteen  and  sixty  were  hurried  to  the  field. 
There  was  nothing  heard  of  or  talked  of  but  news  from  the 
front.  The  Southern  people  believed  they  were  fighting  for  ex- 
istence, and  that  defeat  was  ruin,  and  defeat  only  urged  them  to 
greater  sacrifices.  The  preachers  were  in  the  camp  when  they 
were  not  in  the  pulpit.  The  saintly  Crumley  and  his  noble  wife, 
the  no  less  saintly  Simmons  and  his  Northern-born  wife,  the 
gifted  Potter, — were  seeing  after  the  wounded  in  Richmond. 
There  were  more  than  a  score  of  chaplains  in  the  army  and  many 
soldiers  in  the  line  from  among  the  preachers.  The  camp  rang 
with  old  Methodist  songs,  and  revival  fires  burned  with  the  camp 
fires  of  the  soldiers.  The  preachers  at  home  were  pressed  be- 
yond measure  to  get  means  of  subsistence.  The  people  were 
hard  at  work  to  make  bread.  The  cotton  field  was  given  up  for 
the  grain  field.  Sweet  potatoes,  ground  nuts  and  Indian  meal 
were  a  substitute  for  coffee,  holly  leaves  for  tea  and  sorghum  for 
sugar.     The  old  spinning  wheel  was  geared  up  for  work,  and  the 


Georgia  Methodism.  327 

old  loom  was  made  to  do  service  again.  The  people  were  never 
more  religious,  and  the  churches  were  filled  with  pale-faced  wor- 
shippers. There  was  little  of  revival  fire  at  home.  The  times 
were  too  trying  for  the  song  of  joy  or  the  shout  of  exultation. 
The  pulpit  had  little  to  say  of  the  war.  The  old  story  of  the  Gos- 
pels was  what  the  burdened  people  wanted  to  hear,  and  only 
that.  The  wounded  soldiers  were  in  all  our  villages  and  towns. 
Refugees  from  the  West  and  East  crowded  into  the  country. 
While  this  was  generally  the  state  of  things,  there  was  heartless 
gaiety  and  shameless  rapacity  side  by  side  with  it.  Confederate 
money  was  abundant.  It  bought  nothing,  but  there  was  nothing 
to  be  bought.  There  was  no  show,  nor  pomp,  nor  luxury,  but 
there  was  at  home  little  real  want — perhaps  never  less.  The 
whole  land  was  turned  into  a  great  granary,  and  so  there  was  a 
sufficient  supply  of  all  that  was  needed  for  imperative  wants. 
The  church  work  went  on  steadily,  and  the  missionary  collection 
reached  sixty-eight  thousand  dollars,  and  the  conference  claims 
were  paid  with  a  premium  of  one  hundred  per  cent. 

The  class  of  1863  was  a  small  one.  The  war  was  at  its  height, 
and  everything  was  deranged.  William  C.  Malloy,  John  R.  Deer- 
ing,  E.  K.  Aiken,  W.  T.  Caldwell,  James  O.  A.  Cook,  James  A. 
Baugh  were  admitted. 

William  C.  Malloy,  who  was  chaplain  in  the  army,  remained 
in  Georgia  a  short  time  after  the  war  closed,  and  then  went  to 
the  Baltimore  Conference.  John  R.  Deering,  a  Kentuckian,  son 
of  a  leading  preacher  in  the  Kentucky  Conference,  had  been  a 
soldier,  and  being  wounded  was  discharged.  He  joined  the  Con- 
ference and  did  good  work  till  the  war  was  over,  when  with  his 
Georgia  wife  he  went  back  to  Kentucky,  where  he  has  been  a 
useful  man  to  this  date  (1912). 

Willis  T.  Caldwell,  quite  a  young  man,  of  good  mind  and  solid 
piety,  joined  the  conference  this  session.  He  married  a  daughter 
of  Josiah  Lewis,  and  has  done  very  excellent  work  for  now  over 
fifty  years.  A  quiet,  modest,  retiring,  but  thorougbly  reliable 
man,  he  has  been  of  real  service  to  the  church. 

Eldridge  K.  Aiken,  a  bright,  active,  very  young  man,  small  in 
body  and  full  of  zeal,  is  still  an  efficient  worker  in  the  confer- 
ence, who  has  filled  some  of  our  important  circuits. 

J.  O.  A.  Cook,  son  of  Reverend  Francis  Cook,  and  a  brother 
of  Doctor  W.  F.  Cook,  of  the  conference,  a  graduate  of  Emory 
and  at  that  time  a  chaplain  in  the  army,  was  admitted  on  trial  and 
sent  to  the  army.  He  is  still  a  member  (1912)  of  the  South 
Georgia  Conference.     He  is  a  man  of  pure  heart,  good  judgment 


328  History  of 

and  pleasant  ways.  Courageous,  yet  quiet,  faithful  in  the  dis- 
charge of  every  duty,  he  has  always  had  the  lofty  respect  of  his 
conference,  has  had  the  best  appointments  and  filled  them  well. 
Two  of  his  sons  are  members  of  the  same  conference  as  their 
father. 

The  Conference  for  1864  did  not  meet  until  January  of  1865. 
It  met  then  in  Athens,  Bishop  Pierce  presiding.  The  year  had 
been  a  year  of  fearful  events.  General  Sherman  had  made  his 
march  across  the  State,  carrying  devastation  and  ruin  with  him. 
Atlanta  had  been  burned,  the  whole  line  of  country  along  the 
railways  desolated.  Battles  by  the  score  had  been  fought  on 
Georgia  soil,  and  it  was  evident  to  all  thoughtful  men  that  the 
end  of  the  conflict  was  near.  The  preachers  had  bravely  stood 
in  their  places,  and  had  done  their  work  faithfully,  and  now 
many  of  them  went  to  appointments  where  they  expected  to  find 
everything  in  fearful  confusion.  Haygood  and  Thigpen  were  to 
take  the  two  churches  in  Atlanta,  and  out  of  the  fragments  to 
construct  new  congregations.  Wynn  was  holding  his  place  in 
Savannah,  with  the  Federal  soldiers  jealously  watching  every 
movement,  and  cut  off  from  his  brothers  by  a  cordon  of  bayonets. 
There  was  such  confusion  there  was  no  report  of  missionary 
money  collected,  and  possibly  there  was  none  brought  to  confer- 
ence. And  yet  in  spite  of  all  these  untoward  and  exciting  events, 
there  were  several  cases  of  ministerial  discipline  reported  in  the 
minutes.  A  useful  and  valuable  member  of  the  conference  had 
allowed  his  angry  passions  to  lead  him  to  smite  an  adversary, 
and  the  conference  ordered  him  reprimanded;  and  another  who 
was  doubtless  misunderstood  and  perhaps  too  hardly  dealt  with, 
was  convicted  of  falsehood  and  slander.  He  bore  the  same  pun- 
ishment with  great  meekness,  and  his  whole  after  life  vindicated 
him  in  the  view  of  his  brethren  of  any  intention  to  deceive  or  to 
injure.  Methodism  in  Georgia  never  presented  a  gloomier  aspect 
than  at  this  conference,  and  it  was  not  to  be  wondered  at  that 
men's  hearts  failed  them  for  fear;  but  rallying  from  it  and  hope- 
ful still,  and  above  all  trusting  in  God,  the  preachers  cheerfully 
took  their  appointments  and  went  to  their  work. 

There  were  only  three  admitted  on  trial :  Ambrose  N.  Holli- 
field,  G.  T.  Embry  and  Peter  A.  Heard. 

I  lollifield  soon  retired  from  the  work.  George  T.  Embry,  a 
faithful  man,  died  in  it,  and  Peter  A.  Heard,  one  of  the  truest 
and  best  of  men,  served  the  church  efficiently  for  over  thirty 
years,  and  died  while  pastor  at  College  Park.  He  was  a  grad- 
uate of  Emory,  a  lovely,  gifted  Christian  gentleman. 


Georgia  Methodism.  329 

In  April  the  end  came.  The  last  soldier  laid  down  his  arms, 
and  the  fearful  war  between  men  of  the  same  blood  and  the  same 
religion,  as  far  as  the  battlefield  was  concerned,  was  at  an  end. 
The  soldiers  who  were  left  returned  to  their  desolate  homes,  the 
preachers  from  the  army  came  back  to  their  conference  to  find 
work  as  best  they  could  until  conference  assembled.  The  ne- 
groes, freed  from  their  bonds,  were  glorying  in  a  new  freedom, 
the  people  stood  in  silence,  unable  to  conjecture  what  might 
come,  and  all  kinds  of  predictions  were  made  as  to  what  might 
be  looked  for.  There  was  much  left;  some  cotton,  some  tobacco, 
some  money,  and  an  abundance  of  provisions  in  certain  parts  of 
the  country.  The  negroes  were  helped  by  the  Freedmens'  Bu- 
reau, and  the  whites  by  friends  in  Maryland  and  California,  and 
it  was  soon  evident  that  the  North  had  no  desire  to  wreak  any 
vengeance  on  the  conquered,  and  there  was  but  little  danger  of 
halter  or  prison.  One  brave  heart  among  a  thousand  others, 
found  voice  in  speech,  when  Bishop  Pierce  said  to  his  Georgia 
friends  to  stand  firm  and  trust  in  God,  and  when  the  other  Bish- 
ops joined  with  him  in  a  circular  letter  to  the  same  effect,  confi- 
dence began  to  be  restored.  The  A.  M.  E.  Church,  the  A.  M.  E. 
Zion  Church  and  the  M.  E.  Church,  each  swept  down  on  the 
negro  congregations  and  captured  them.  Most  of  them  went  to 
the  A.  M.  E.,  but  a  very  respectable  number  to  the  M.  E.  Church. 
John  H.  Caldwell,  to  whom  we  have  alluded,  went  into  the  M.  E. 
Church,  and  sundry  others  followed  his  example.  They  were 
good  men,  and  aimed  to  do  the  right  thing;  but  it  was  soon  evi- 
dent that  the  church  was  not  ready  to  go  with  them. 

The  revival  fires  now  began  to  blaze,  and  the  State  was  swept 
by  a  glorious  revival  flame.  The  chaplains  who  had  no  charge, 
went  into  evangelistic  work,  and  God  blessed  the  people  with  his 
smile.  The  Southern  people  had  supposed  ruin  would  come  if 
defeat  came;  and  for  years  after  the  surrender  they  looked  anx- 
iously to  the  future ;  but  the  ruin  did  not  come.  The  result 
among  the  negroes  was  far  better  than  they  feared.  The  M.  E. 
Church,  the  Presbyterian,  the  Congregational,  the  Baptist,  all 
established  schools  for  negroes.  The  A.  M.  E.  began  at  once  to 
educate  its  new  membership  in  the  art  of  independence  and  self- 
support.  While  much  that  was  feared  did  come,  much  that  was 
looked  for  as  sure  did  not.  The  colored  people  were  missed  from 
the  city  congregations ;  but  for  some  time  from  our  country 
charges  these  things  went  on  as  aforetime.  The  Freedmen's 
Bureau  was  conducted  by  a  conscientious  Christian  man,  Gen- 
eral O.  O.  Howard,  and  all  that  he  could  do  to  make  freedom  a 


330  History  of 

blessing  to  the  freedmen  was  done.  As  far  as  the  whites  were 
concerned,  save  in  the  mountain  sections,  where  some  of  the 
preachers  were  disaffected  and  drew  some  of  the  people  with 
them,  there  was  no  disintegration  or  absorption,  but  only  reli- 
gious prosperity  and  concord.  The  church  had  great  reason  for 
gratitude,  and  found  that  God  had  been  better  to  it  than  it  feared. 
The  four  terrible  years  had  not  been  without  a  blessing,  and  as 
soon  as  the  first  feeling  of  dismay  at  the  changed  condition  of 
things  had  passed,  it  began  to  adjust  itself  to  it,  and  there  was 
no  confusion.    The  work  went  on  as  it  had  done  in  days  gone  by. 

The  conference  met  at  Macon  in  November  of  1865,  Bishop 
Pierce  presiding.  In  the  spring  of  1865  the  war  had  ended,  and 
now  new  recruits  came  to  the  ministry.  Of  the  eleven,  however, 
who  applied  for  membership  in  the  conference,  Franklin  L. 
Allen,  Cyrus  H.  Ellis  only  remained  a  little  while  in  active  work. 
E.  S.  Tyner  was  transferred  to  Florida.  Charles  J.  Oliver,  an 
Englishman  of  decided  views  and  strong  mind,  travelled  a  few 
years,  and  then  located.  James  M.  Stokes,  an  excellent  man  who 
had  been  a  chaplain  in  the  army,  transferred  to  Florida,  and  died 
there  of  consumption.  Robert  J.  Corley,  a  most  gifted  and  ac- 
complished young  man,  who  made  rapid  progress  in  the  church, 
rising  in  a  few  years  to  its  first  stations,  and  filling  them  with 
marked  ability,  died  while  still  young  of  consumption. 

Francis  G.  Hughes,  a  son  of  Judge  Thomas  Hughes,  a  local 
preacher  of  Union,  long  regarded  as  a  most  judicious,  fruitful 
and  earnest  man,  filled  acceptably  many  of  the  best  positions  in 
his  conference  and  died  in  the  work. 

General  Clement  A.  Evans  was  perhaps  the  only  Major  Gen- 
eral who  has  ever  been  a  member  of  a  Methodist  conference.  He 
was  a  young  lawyer  in  Stewart  County.  He  entered  the  Confed- 
erate army,  and  was  promoted  for  gallantry  and  ability  to  the 
position  of  Major  General.  He  was  severely  wounded  in  one  of 
the  battles  in  Maryland,  and  never  fully  recovered.  After 
the  war  was  over  he  determined  to  give  himself  to  the  work  of 
the  ministry,  and  joined  the  conference.  His  genuine  ability,  his 
great  suavity  and  unquestioned  piety,  added  to  his  fame  as  a 
soldier,  soon  put  him  in  the  front  rank  among  the  preachers.  His 
first  year  was  in  the  desolated  but  magnificent  county  of  Bartow. 
Here  a  great  revival  followed  his  earnest  work.  He  was  soon  in 
the  front  rank  among  the  preachers  and  was  sent  to  the  leading 
stations.  After  twenty-five  years  of  active  service  he  retired 
fr<  m  the  pastorate,  and  was  elected  as  prison  commissioner  by 


Rev.  W.  N.  Aixswortii,  D.D. 
President  W'ksi.kyax    Female  College. 


"*> 


.v"""^ 


W.  C.  Bass,  D.D. 
President  Wesleyan    Female  College 


Georgia  Methodism.  333 

the  State,  a  position  filled  with  ability  until  his  death  on  July  2, 
1911. 

W.  P.  Rivers,  who  joined  the  conference  this  year,  had  been 
for  several  years  a  local  preacher.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Yale, 
a  man  of  fine  taste,  gentle,  amiable  and  deeply  religious.  He 
wrote  much  very  melodious  verse,  and  after  years  of  active  work 
retired  to  the  ranks  of  the  superannuated,  and  in  1905  passed 
quietly  away. 

The  conference,  which  met  in  the  City  Hall  in  Macon,  was  the 
first  to  meet  after  the  great  change  had  come.  The  minutes  of 
the  conference  at  Athens  were  incomplete,  and  we  cannot  tell 
what  was  the  membership  reported  then,  but  such  was  the  dis- 
organization at  that  time  no  figures  could  have  been  received 
with  confidence.  Taking  the  figures  reported  the  year  before, 
the  membership  of  the  church  was  five  thousand  less  than  it  had 
been  in  1863,  and  over  five  thousand  less  than  it  had  been  in 
i860.  The  missionary  collection  was  now  only  two  thousand  five 
hundred  and  forty-nine  dollars,  but  the  conference  collection  was 
nearly  four  thousand  five  hundred.  The  difficulty  of  securing 
proper  support  for  the  preachers  made  it  necessary  for  all  who 
had  resources  of  a  private  nature  to  fall  back  on  them,  and  so 
sundry  of  the  preachers  received  nominal  appointments  and  went 
into  secular  employments.  There  were  charges  enough  which 
promised  support  for  all  the  preachers  who  could  take  appoint- 
ments, and  in  good  heart  the  conference  went  to  work  under  the 
new  order  of  things. 

The  General  Conference  was  to  meet  in  May  of  1866,  and  it 
was  evident  that  the  old  Georgia  Conference  would  have  to 
divide.  The  delegates  elected  to  go  to  New  Orleans  were :  Sam- 
uel Anthony,  Lovick  Pierce,  E.  H.  Myers,  Weyman  H.  Potter, 
James  E.  Evans,  James  W.  Hinton  and  Joseph  S.  Key. 

The  preachers  never  evinced  a  nobler  heroism  than  they  did  in 
those  first  years  after  the  war,  and  never  since  the  primitive  days 
and  the  darkest  days  of  the  war  had  closer  times  and  more  hard- 
ships ;  but  the  poorest  and  hardest  circuit  was  so  much  better  in 
times  of  peace  than  the  best  had  been  during  the  war  that  the 
hardships  were  not  regarded. 

It  was  apparent  before  the  assembling  of  the  conference  that 
some  radical  changes  were  being  considered.  The  Southern 
Christian  Advocate  had  been  brought  from  Charleston  to  Au- 
gusta, and  thence  to  Macon.  The  press  and  all  its  outfit  had 
been  burned  in  the  early  part  of  1865,  and  it  had  suspended  pub- 
lication.    John  W.  Burke  &  Company,  having  begun  business, 


334  History  of 

published  for  a  little  while  a  weekly  paper,  and  then  made  a  con- 
tract for  the  publication  of  the  Southern  Christian  Advocate. 
Doctor  Myers  was  the  editor.  In  the  columns  of  this  paper  he 
indicated  some  of  the  changes  that  were  demanded  by  the  exist- 
ing condition  of  things.  Bishop  McTyiere  (then  Doctor  Mc- 
Tyiere)  and  many  others  of  the  younger  corps  of  preachers,  were 
fully  in  sympathy  with  these  advanced  views,  and  had  been 
planning  and  arranging  for  even  greater  changes.  It  is  not  the 
part  of  this  history  to  give  an  account  of  this  memorable  confer- 
ence. When  it  adjourned  the  probation  system  was  gone.  Class 
meetings  had  received  their  death  blow.  Lay  delegation  was  pro- 
vided for.  The  system  of  providing  for  superannuated  preach- 
ers was  changed,  and  the  mode  of  supporting  the  ministry  was 
modified.  The  name  of  the  church  was  changed,  as  far  as  the 
General  Conference  could  do  it.  Several  of  the  Georgia  delega- 
tion were  young,  serving  their  first  session  in  the  General  Con- 
ference, and  they  were  to  a  man  with  the  progressives,  but  some 
of  the  older  delegates  fought  the  changes  bitterly.  The  confer- 
ence had  decided  on  extending  the  term  of  pastoral  service  with- 
out limit,  and  Bishop  Pierce  had  declared  his  determination  to 
resign,  when  after  a  second  thought  the  conference  rescinded  the 
unwise  decision.  This  course  of  Bishop  Pierce,  candor  compels 
me  to  say,  was  by  no  means  endorsed  by  some  of  the  Georgia 
delegates,  who  were  more  willing  to  lose  him  than  they  were  to 
surrender  their  favorite  measure. 

There  had,  just  after  the  war,  crept  in  the  use  of  organs  into 
the  churches.  Against  this  some  of  the  preachers  were  very 
decided,  and  they  were  sustained  by  Bishop  Pierce;  but  there 
were  so  many  preachers  in  favor  of  their  use,  that  they  soon 
found  place  in  most  of  the  city  churches.  The  attempt  to  rent 
pews  was  tried  also  in  Columbus,  Savannah,  LaGrange  and  Ma- 
con, but  was  so  distasteful  to  the  people  and  so  ruinous  in  conse- 
quences that  it  was  soon  abandoned.  There  was  a  general  opin- 
ion that  the  time  had  come  for  great  changes,  and  they  were  made 
with  startling  rapidity.  Among  the  new  plans  suggested,  but  not 
made  obligatory  by  law,  was  that  of  having  district  conferences, 
and  they  were  begun  in  Georgia  in  the  summer  of  this  year.  The 
General  Conference  selected  four  new  Bishops:  McTyiere, 
Wightman,  Doggett  and  Marvin.  Three  of  these,  at  least,  sym- 
pathized decidedly  with  the  progressives,  and  a  new  method  of 
examination  of  character  was  quietly  decided  on,  but  not  begun 
at  this  time. 

The  last  meeting  of   the     undivided    conference     was    held  at 


Georgia  Methodism.  335 

Americus  in  December.  Bishop  McTyiere,  just  beginning  his 
episcopal  life,  came  to  Georgia  and  gained  a  place  at  this  confer- 
ence, which  he  never  lost.  The  collisions  which  this  strong- 
willed  man  sometimes  had  in  other  conferences  he  never  had 
here.  He  delighted  every  one  with  the  grace  and  ability  with 
which  he  presided.  There  was  before  the  conference  the  question 
of  whether  the  conference  should  divide,  and  if  so  at  what  line. 
The  leading  young  men  who  were  in  city  charges  or  on  large  dis- 
tricts, were  bitterly  opposed  to  division,  and  the  fight  against  it 
was  very  severe ;  but  it  was  at  last  carried,  and  a  satisfactory 
line  agreed  on,  and  the  Georgia  Conference  as  it  had  existed 
since  183 1  ceased  to  be. 

During  this  year  the  M.  E.  Church  extended  its  lines  into 
Georgia,  and  John  Murphy,  C.  W.  Parker,  R.  H.  Waters,  Alfred 
Dorman,  John  W.  Yarbrough  and  John  L.  Fowler,  cast  in  their 
lot  with  them.  With  the  exception  of  John  W.  Yarbrough,  those 
who  withdrew  were  men  of  very  moderate  ability  and  had  hum- 
ble place  in  the  conference.  Mr.  Yarbrough  was  a  man  of  ex- 
cellent character  and  of  bright  intellect.  He  spent  several  years 
in  the  M.  E.  Church,  and  then  came  back  to  the  Church  South, 
and  in  it  died. 

There  were  eight  admissions  into  the  conference. 

John  \V.  Heidt,  a  young  lawyer  of  Savannah,  at  the  time 
Solicitor-General  of  his  circuit,  a  graduate  of  Emory  College,  a 
descendant  of  the  old  Salzburgers,  went  into  the  conference,  and 
was  for  forty  years  a  most  highly  honored  member  of  the  North 
Georgia  Conference.  Genial  in  manner,  ready  in  speech,  unfail- 
ing in  reason,  and  almost  infinite  in  patience,  few  men  were  loved 
more  than  Doctor  Heidt.  He  not  only  occupied  the  best  stations 
and  districts  in  his  conference,  but  was  president  of  the  La 
Grange  Female  College,  and  the  Southwestern  University,  in 
Texas.  He  was  for  years  the  secretary  of  the  North  Georgia 
Conference,  and  died  in  that  office. 

Benson  L.  Timmons,  a  faithful,  studious,  pious  man,  after 
years  of  service  died  in  the  work. 

R.  R.  Johnson,  who  had  lost  an  arm  in  the  war,  and  who  while 
on  his  work  a  year  afterward  was  badly  injured  by  an  accident, 
was  highly  esteemed  as  a  man  of  most  excellent  character,  a 
ready  preacher  and  a  faithful  man.     He  died  a  superannuate. 

Francis  B.  Davies,  brother  of  Lewis  J.  and  William  Davies, 
died  in  Decatur,  Ga.,  in  his  forty-seventh  year.  The  minutes  say 
of  him  that  he  had  strong  mental  powers,  good  judgment,  was 
beloved  as  a  pastor  and  successful  in  his  work. 


336  History  of 

W.  M.  C.  Conley,  son  of  W.  F.  Conley,  is  still  an  earnest 
worker  in  the  South  Georgia  Conference. 

Josiah  Lewis,  Jr.,  son  of  Josiah  Lewis,  graduated  at  Emory 
College,  and  entered  the  conference  at  this  time.  He  was  for  a 
time  professor  in  Emory  College,  and  afterward  president  of  the 
Southern  University,  in  Greensboro,  Ala.  He  was  a  pastor  for  a 
few  years  in  Alabama,  and  then  returned  to  Georgia,  where  he 
was  placed  in  charge  of  the  church  at  LaGrange.  His  health 
failed,  and  he  passed  away.  Doctor  Lewis  was  a  man  of  re- 
markably fine  mind,  and  of  most  advanced  cultivation.  He  was 
a  forcible  preacher  and  a  delightful  lecturer.  He  was  very 
highly  esteemed  wherever  he  was  known,  and  his  early  death 
was  a  sad  loss  to  the  Church. 

W.  F.  Robison  began  his  life  work  at  this  time.  He  was  a 
faithful,  earnest  worker  all  his  life,  and  did  the'  work  assigned 
him  to  the  profit  and  satisfaction  of  those  for  whom  it  was  done. 

The  year  1866  had  been  a  successful  one.  There  was  an  in- 
crease in  membership  of  over  two  thousand  among  the  whites, 
while  there  had  been  a  loss  of  over  six  thousand  among  the  col- 
ored people.  The  conference  collection  was  over  five  thousand, 
and  the  missionary  near  seven  thousand  dollars. 

The  General  Conference  having  given  permission  to  the  Geor- 
gia Conference  to  divide  if  it  so  willed,  it  was  evident  when  the 
body  met  in  December  that  a  division  was  demanded  by  a  ma- 
jority. It  was  painful  to  make  the  severance,  but  at  last  it  was 
decided  to  do  so,  and  the  line  as  suggested  by  John  W.  Glenn  was 
adopted  and  appointments  were  made ;  and  here  I  will  end  my 
current  story. 

The  history  of  Methodism  in  the  larger  cities  demands  special 
attention,  as  do  the  subjects  of  Missions,  Education  and  Benevo- 
lence. The  history  I  have  tried  to  tell  of  work  and  workers  for 
nearly  a  hundred  years,  has  been  of  necessity  not  fully  satisfac- 
tory; but  it  has  given  an  outline  that  can  be  filled  out  in  after 
time.  The  mere  glances  at  the  workers  ought  to  be  sketches  of 
their  lives ;  but  it  would  take  too  much  space  for  me  to  attempt 
it.  In  some  future  day  sketches  of  leading  Methodists,  clerical 
and  lay,  will  be  demanded,  and  I  hope  they  will  be  furnished ; 
but  a  much  larger  and  more  extensive  book  than  this  will  be 
necessary  to  contain  them.  Methodism  has  done  a  great  work  in 
in  Georgia,  and  great  obligations  rest  on  the  church. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Methodism  in  the  Cities. 

I  would  have  been  glad  to  have  given  a  fuller  account  of  the 
work  on  the  many  circuits  of  the  conference,  but  my  limited 
space  has  forbidden  it.  It  is,  however,  possible  to  enter  some- 
what minutely  into  the  history  of  the  Church  in  the  few  cities  of 
the  State,  and  this  I  am  trying  to  do  in  this  chapter. 

Although  Savannah  antedates  Augusta  as  a  city  by  several 
years,  yet,  as  Methodism  was  established  in  the  latter  city  nrst, 
it  claims  priority  in  Methodist  history. 

Immediately  after  the  first  settlement  of  the  colony  in  1732, 
a  fort  was  established  on  its  upper  boundary,  which  was  called 
Augusta,  in  honor  of  a  young  princess,  daughter  of  George  11, 
for  whom  the  colony  was  named. 

It  was  simply  a  fort,  and  a  trading  post  for  the  Cherokee, 
Uchee  and  Chickasaw  tribes  of  Indians,  who  still  owned  all  the 
land  north  and  west  of  it.  The  trade  with  the  Indians  increased, 
the  traders  became  more  numerous,  and  a  village  sprang  up. 
After  the  surrender  of  the  charter  of  the  trustees  to  the  govern- 
ment and  the  establishment  of  the  English  Church  about  1757, 
a  church  was  built  and  a  parish  laid  out.  This  parish  was  called 
St  Paul's  The  church  was  served  by  missionaries  sent  out  by 
the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts. 
The  first  of  these  was  Jonathan  Copp. 

Pie  found  a  congregation  of  from  80  to  100  members  but  had 
only  eight  communicants.  He  had  neither  rectory  nor  glebe,  and 
the  promise  of  £20  per  annum  from  the  vestry  was  broken !  1  he 
Indians  were  near  by,  and  were  not  friendly;  still  he  maintained 
his  place  for  five  years.  # 

Solomon  Frink  succeeded  him  and  remained  three  years.515  In 
1767  Edward  Ellington  came.  He  was  an  itinerant  Episcopalian, 
who  travelled  over  the  thinly  settled  country  to  perform  his  offi- 
cial duties  He  did  hard  work  until  the  Revolutionary  war,  and 
then  Augusta  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  British,  and  the  church 
was  destroyed. 

The  Grand  Tury  of  1782  presented  the  fact  that  there  was  no 
church  in  Augusta,  nor  in  Richmond  County.f     There  was  as 

*  Bishop  Stevens'  Memorial  Sermon,    t  White's  Historical  Collections. 


338  History  of 

far  as  we  can  discover,  no  preaching  in  this  section.  Perhaps 
Bottsford,  or  the  Marshalls,  or  Silas  Mercer — one  of  whom  lived 
in  the  County  of  Burke,  and  the  others  on  the  Kiokee,  in  what  is 
now  Columbia  County — may  have  visited  the  city.  A  church  was 
built,  however,  on  the  lot  of  the  old  St.  Paul's  church,  which 
seems  to  have  been  used  by  any  preacher  who  casually  visited 
Augusta.  Although  it  was  the  capital  of  the  State,  it  was  com- 
paratively a  small  hamlet.  The  most  of  the  houses  were  of  logs, 
and  the  river  was  crossed  by  a  ferry.*  Population  increased  rap- 
idly after  the  Revolution,  and  it  soon  became  an  important  com- 
mercial point.  The  western  part  of  South  Carolina,  the  western 
part  of  North  Carolina,  and  all  the  settled  parts  of  upper  Geor- 
gia, as  well  as  the  Indian  country,  did  their  trading  there. 

At  what  time  the  first  Methodist  preacher  visited  Augusta,  we 
are  unable  to  say.  It  is  more  than  probable  that  Thomas  Hum- 
phries and  John  Major  visited  it  before  Asbury  came,  which  he 
did  for  the  first  time  in  1789.  On  this  visit  he  does  not  seem  to 
have  tarried  in  the  town,  but  pushed  forward  to  Hayne's.  on 
Uchee  Creek.  Augusta  at  this  date  was  a  considerable  town, 
with  a  newspaper  and  a  theatre,  but  without  any  religious  service 
or  any  organized  body  of  Christians.  When  Asbury  came  the 
next  year,  he  rode  to  near  where  Brothersville  is  now  located, 
and  stopped  with  Samuel  Clarke.  Although  he  was  in  Georgia 
and  in  Augusta  several  times,  he  does  not  seem  to  have  preached 
in  it  until  1796,  when  he  preached  in  St.  Paul's  Church.  This 
was  the  first  time  a  Methodist  Bishop  ever  preached  in  Augusta. 
An  effort  had  been  made,  however,  to  establish  the  Church  there 
on  his  first  visit  to  Georgia,  and  James  Connor,  a  promising 
young  preacher,  had  been  appointed  to  it  as  a  station  in  1789. 
His  health  was  feeble,  and  during  the  year  he  died  in  Virginia. f 
It  is  therefore  probable  that  he  went  to  Virginia  immediately 
after  conference,  and  never  returned  to  Georgia,  and  was  never 
for  any  length  of  time  in  Augusta.  Hope  Hull,  after  his  loca- 
tion, was  sent  to  the  city;  but  if  he  went,  he  did  not  accomplish 
anything.  It  is  probable  that  now  and  then  one  of  those  plain, 
sober,  peculiar  men  who  travelled  the  circuits  adjoining  may  have 
visited  the  gay  capital  of  the  State,  and  gathered  a  few  hearers 
in  some  remote  house;  but  if  he  did,  no  success  attended  his 
efforts.  Thus  it  was  till  1798.  The  father  of  Augusta  Method- 
ism was  now  at  hand. 

Among  the  Virginians   who   were   drawn   to   Augusta  by  its 

*  White 's    Statistics.      t  Minutes. 


Georgia  Methodism.  339 

business  advantages  was  Col.  Wm.  Mead,  a  wealthy  Virginian. 
Two  of  his  daughters  were  married  and  were  living  there.*  His 
son  Stith,  a  thoughtful  boy,  came  with  him,  and  attended  the  old 
Augusta  Academy.  Stith  had  been  religiously  impressed  from 
conversation  with  his  father's  negro  servants,  and  had  sought  to 
find  peace  for  his  disturbed  conscience  by  close  attention  to  what 
he  believed  to  be  his  religious  duties.  He  was  still  unhappy,  and 
went  to  Virginia.  Here  he  attended  a  camp-meeting  in  Bed- 
ford County,  and  was  converted.  He  entered  at  once  into  the 
Virginia  Conference,  and  travelled  there  seven  years.  He  then 
came  to  Augusta.  He  said  he  found  a  city  of  4,000  inhabitants, 
in  which  there  was  no  organized  church,  and,  as  far  as  he  could 
see,  not  one  of  the  people  knew  their  right  hand  from  their  left 
in  religion.  He  began  his  labors,  and  preached  one  sermon  in 
the  church.  His  sermon  so  offended  his  hearers  that  the  church 
was  thereafter  closed  against  him.  His  relatives,  some  of  whom 
in  after  time  were  devoted  Methodists,  were  so  opposed  to  his 
fanaticism  that  they  closed  their  doors  against  him.  He  found 
a  private  house  in  which  to  preachf— the  house  of  Ebenezer 
Doughty,  and  in  1798  he  organized  a  society,  which  consisted  of 
six  members. $  The  society  increased,  and  a  meeting  house  was 
a  necessity.  He  secured  a  lot  in  the  then  Commons,  on  what  is 
now  Greene  Street,  and  when  Asbury  came  in  1800,  he  found 
that  Mead  had  a  foundation  and  a  frame  prepared  for  the  erec- 
tion of  a  two-story  house.  Mead  gave  $500  out  of  his  own  prop- 
erty, and  by  his  influence  and  energy  raised  money  enough  to  fit 
the  house  for  occupancy. §  Asbury  thought  it  was  commodious 
and  elegant,  and  the  congregation  large  and  attentive. 

The  church  building  which  Stith  Mead  had  erected  was  located 
on  the  same  lot  on  which  the  present  St.  John's  Church  stands. 
It  was  then  almost  out  of  town,  in  the  upper  part  of  the  city. 
The  business  part  of  the  town  was  the  lower  part  of  Broad 
Street,  on  Bridge  Row,  and  along  the  river  banks.  The  most 
elegant  residences,  if  any  could  be  called  elegant,  were  below, 
where  is  the  present  lower  market  house.  The  only  other  church 
building  was  the  St.  Paul's  Episcopal  Church,  and  around  it  at 
that  time  was  the  city  cemetery. 

The  Methodist  church  was  40x60  feet,  with  two  rows  of  win- 
dows. ||  It  was  of  wood,  and  perfectly  plain;  there  was  a  gallery 
for  the  colored  people,  and  a  few  years  afterwards  there  was  a 
small  belfry.     This  church,  unchanged,  served  the  people  until 

*Bennett.     tlbid.     Jlbid.     §Ibid.     1 1 Asbury 's  Journal. 


340  History  of 

John  Howard  came  in  1822,  and  the  church  was  added  to,  mak- 
ing it  longer.  Success  now  attended  Mead's  efforts,  and  he  soon 
had  a  society  of  sixty  members.  This  was  the  first  organized 
body  of  Christians  in  Augusta  after  the  Revolution.  The  Pres- 
byterian Church  was  organized  about  1808,  and  the  Baptist 
Church  some  ten  years  later.  As  far  as  we  can  discover,  there 
was  no  regular  rector  to  the  Episcopal  Church  until  later  still, 
when  the  new  St.  Paul's  Church  was  built. 

Who  composed  this  first  society?  Ebenezer  Doughty  was  a 
member,  the  mother  of  John  H.  Mann  was  another,  and  probably 
her  daughters.  If  Asaph  Waterman  was  not  one  of  the  first,  he 
was  a  member  as  early  as  1804,  when  Dr.  Pierce  first  came  to 
Augusta.* 

Mead  remained  in  charge  of  the  church,  which  was  included 
in  the  circuit,  until  1801,  when  it  was  made  a  station,  and  John 
Garvin  was  the  stationed  preacher.  He  was  an  Englishman  by 
birth,  having  been  born  in  Windsor,  Jauary  30,  1763.  He  was 
converted  in  Ireland,  and  preached  his  first  sermon  in  London 
in  1792,  and  immediately  went  to  Africa,  where  he  remained  four 
years.  He  reached  America  in  1797,  and  reported  himself  to  As- 
bury  for  work.  We  have  seen  that  he  went,  in  company  with 
Jesse  Lee,  to  lay  out  a  circuit  in  the  extreme  southeastern  part 
of  Georgia,  early  in  1799.  In  1801  he  came  to  Augusta.  In 
1803  he  married  Sarah  Few,  who  survived  him  many  years,  and 
who  was  noted  for  her  deep  piety.  He  was  a  man  of  good  na- 
tive parts,  and  an  excellent  English  scholar.  After  his  location 
he  taught  school  in  Augusta,  and  when  the  Presbyterians  had 
no  pastor,  he  preached  regularly  for  them  for  one  year,  in  the  old 
St.  Paul's  Church.  He  was  quite  popular  in  the  city  of  his  resi- 
dence, and  married  most  of  those  who  were  coupled  together  in 
the  city  and  its  vicinity,  f  He  died  in  1816  in  great  peace,  leav- 
ing a  most  excellent  widow  and  son,  Ignatius  P.  Garvin,  who  for 
many  years  was  a  leading  member  of  the  church  of  which  his 
father  was  the  first  pastor. 

The  next  year,  1802,  Levi  Garrison  came.  He  was  a  plain  man 
of  excellent  religious  character,  but  not  the  equal  of  those  who 
had  gone  before  him.  The  church  continued,  however,  to  grow 
slowly,  but  it  was  embarrassed  by  debt,  and  needed  a  revival  of 
religion.  This  year  it  received  aid,  both  financial  and  minis- 
terial, from  a  very  unexpected  quarter. 

Asbury  had  brought  Nicholas  Snethen  with  him  the  year  be- 


*Dr.  Pierce.     tDr.  Garvin. 


Georgia  Methodism.  341 

fore.  Snethen  was  a  man  of  really  wonderful  eloquence  and  had 
attracted  much  attention.  Mead,  and  Asbury,  and  Garvin,  were 
far  beyond  the  average  of  the  preachers  of  that  day,  but  none 
created  so  much  noise  as  Lorenzo  Dow,  who  came  in  1802.  One 
spring  day  he  came  on  foot  to  Augusta.  He  was  dressed  in  the 
oddest  manner  imaginable.  His  hair  and  beard  were  long,  and 
as  he  carried  no  baggage  and  his  wardrobe  was  not  extensive, 
his  dress  was  far  from  neat.  He  carried  with  him  a  pocket  full 
of  tracts,  which  he  distributed  as  he  ran  along.  He  moved  ac- 
cording to  his  impressions,  and,  under  one  of  them,  came  to 
Augusta.  He  sought  the  hospitality  of  the  Methodists,  but  no 
one  would  entertain  him,  and  he  finally  found  a  home  with  a 
negro  in  what  is  now  Hamburg.  He  sought  out  Levi  Garrison, 
preacher  in  charge,  and  told  him  who  he  was;  but  Garrison  was 
naturally  afraid  of  him,  and  did  not  ask  him  to  preach.  In  an- 
other chapter  we  have  already  told  more  of  him  and  of  his  ad- 
ventures in  the  interior.  When  he  returned  to  Augusta,  Stith 
Mead,  who  knew  him,  and  knew  he  was  no  common  man,  in- 
vited him  to  preach.  He  did  so.  Such  original,  and  yet  such 
moving  sermons  the  people  had  never  heard  before,  and  large 
congregations  flocked  to  hear  him.  He  proposed  they  should 
have  preaching  at  night,  but  they  told  him  that  even  the  great 
Snethen  could  not  get  the  people  to  night  meetings.  Dow,  how- 
ever, tried  and  succeeded.*  One  night  he  found  the  church  door 
locked.  The  builder  had  not  been  paid,  and  he  would  give  posses- 
sion of  the  building  no  longer.  He  persuaded  him  to  let  him 
enter,  and  proposed  to  the  congregation  that  they  should  pay  the 
debt,  proposing  to  pay  ten  dollars  himself.  He  raised  a  hundred 
dollars,  and  the  worship  went  on. 

The  next  year  John  Garvin  came  to  the  city  again,  and  Stith 
Mead  was  presiding  elder. 

During  this  year,  1804,  the  first  South  Carolina  Conference 
ever  held  in  Georgia  was  held  in  the  house  of  Peter  Cantalou, 
on  Ellis  Street.  Bishop  Asbury  and  Dr.  Coke  were  present.  The 
history  of  this  conference  we  have  given  in  the  fourth  chapter  of 
this  work.  At  the  next  conference  Stith  Mead,  having  been  four 
years  on  the  Georgia  District,  decided  to  return  to  Virginia.  He 
was  placed  in  charge  of  the  Augusta  Station,  with  Britton  Capel 
as  his  junior.  Capel  was  now  an  elder.  He  had  travelled,  from 
the  time  of  his  entrance  into  the  travelling  ministry,  circuits  in 
the  State.     He  was  an  energetic,  earnest,  and  gifted  man.     His 

*Dow's  Journal. 


342  History  of 

preaching,  according  to  Dr.  Pierce,  was  without  system,  but 
sparkled  with  gems  of  beautiful  thoughts.  He  reported  at  the 
succeeding  conference  eighty  white  members  and  seventeen  col- 
ored. Whether  Mead  remained  the  year  through  we  cannot  say. 
He  was  a  presiding  elder  on  the  Richmond  District,  in  Virginia, 
during  the  next  year,  and  was  never  afterwards  more  than  an 
occasional  visitor  to  Georgia.  The  city  of  Augusta,  and  indeed 
the  whole  State  of  Georgia,  owes  a  deep  debt  of  gratitude  to  this 
excellent  Virginian.  He  was  eminently  a  revivalist,  and  the 
Church  was  quickened,  and  sinners  were  converted  wherever  he 
went.  His  heart  was  with  the  church  he  had  planted  in  Augusta, 
and  he  was  cheered  to  see  its  progress. 

The  next  year  Hugh  Porter  came.  He  was  a  short,  stout  man, 
full  of  revival  fire,  and  much  attached  to  Augusta  in  after-life. 
During  the  year,  by  some  means,  a  bell  was  secured.  It  was 
placed  in  the  little  belfry  of  which  we  have  spoken.  When  Bishop 
Asbury  came  he  saw  it  with  horror.  It  was  an  innovation — -the 
first  bell  he  had  seen  in  any  of  our  meeting-houses  in  America. 
He  said  it  was  the  first :  he  hoped  it  would  be  the  last.  It  wa> 
cracked ;  he  hoped  it  would  break.*  Porter  seems  to  have  good 
success,  since  he  reports  one  hundred  members  at  conference. 
Bishop  Asbury  does  not  seem  to  have  been  pleased  with  some 
things,  he  said  these  youngsters  needed  looking  after — evidently 
referring  to  something  Hugh  Porter  had  clone.  He  says  he  had  a 
high  time  at  the  church,  but  does  not  explain  his  meaning. 

At  the  conference  of  1806,  Lovick  Pierce,  just  beginning  his 
third  year  in  the  ministry,  came  from  the  Apalachee  Circuit  to 
Augusta.  He  had  been  on  a  circuit  reaching  to  the  frontier,  and 
was  immensely  popular  among  his  people.  He  brought  with  him 
to  a — for  that  time — large  and  fashionable  city  the  wardrobe  the 
good  people  of  his  circuit  had  provided.  It  was  of  homespun 
material,  in  which  rabbit  fur  had  a  considerable  place. f  He  was 
the  only  pastor  in  the  city,  and  the  youngest  man  who  had  ever 
filled  the  office  there.  Mead  and  Garvin  had  had  much  better 
advantages  than  himself,  and  Capel  more  experience.  He  was 
very  gifted,  but  was  as  timid  as  he  was  gifted.  He  was,  however, 
a  preacher,  young  as  he  was,  and  had  preached  many  more  ser- 
mons already,  and  seen  the  results  of  his  labor  much  more  evi- 
dent, than  many  a  graduate  of  a  theological  school,  after  seven 
years  in  college  and  the  seminary.  He  soon  adapted  himself  to 
his  new  surroundings.     In  the  pleasant  household  of  Asaph  Wa- 


*  Journal.     tDr.  Pierce. 


Georgia  Methodism.  343 

terman  he  found  a  home,  and  soon  took  on  all  the  polish  of  the 
really  good  society  of  the  young  city.  He  at  once  attracted  at- 
tention, and  had  large  and  appreciative  congregations.  He  was 
the  instrument  of  doing  great  good,  and  of  course  excited  oppo- 
sition from  the  sons  of  Belial.  As  he  walked  down  the  streets, 
the  young  men  of  the  city  would  stand  at  the  street  corners  and 
groan  in  imitation  of  Methodist  responses.  He  had  a  small  pas- 
torate and  abundant  time  for  study,  and  this  for  the  first  time 
since  he  had  entered  upon  his  ministry.  He  improved  every  mo- 
ment. The  membership  of  the  Church  increased  during  his  stay. 
The  next  year  Reddick,  his  brother,  came.  We  have  already 
spoken  of  him.  He  was  now  in  the  vigor  of  his  youth,  and  was 
a  preacher  of  no  ordinary  power. 

The  Church  was  not  strong,  and  preachers  were  very  scarce ; 
and  now  that  the  capital  of  the  State  was  removed  to  Louisville, 
this  little  town  and  Augusta  were  united  in  one  charge,  and  John 
Collingsworth  and  John  Rye  were  sent  to  them.  Among  the 
members  of  the  society  at  this  time  was  Asaph  Waterman.  He 
was  from  New  England,  and  had  no  doubt  been  religiously  edu- 
cated. There  was  no  other  Christian  body  in  Augusta  except  the 
Methodists,  and  he  was  drawn  to  them.  He  cast  in  his  lot  with 
them,  and  was  for  many  years  a  true  pillar  of  the  Church.  He 
had  come  to  the  South  a  mechanic,  but  he  entered  into  mercantile 
life,  and  was  successful  in  amassing  a  handsome  fortune.  The 
Methodists  were  poor,  and  his  house  became  the  home  of  the 
preachers.  He  lighted  the  church,  led  the  class,  and  entertained 
all  the  Methodist  preachers  who  passed  through  the  city.  He 
was  a  quiet,  steady-going,  generous,  plain  Christian,  Methodist  in 
dress  as  well  as  in  character.  He  always  wore  a  coat  of  blue 
broadcloth,  cut  in  Methodist  style,  so  that  it  was  pleasantly  said 
of  him  that  Asaph  Waterman  had  not  had  a  new  coat  in  thirty 
years.  His  first  wife  died  and  left  him  childless.  He  then  mar- 
ried Mildred  Meals,  a  young  widow  who  was  originally  Mildred 
Bostwick,  and  a  sister  of  Stephen  Olin's  wife.  No  union  could 
have  been  happier — no  two  Christian  people  could  have  labored 
together  more  harmoniously  for  the  Church's  welfare. 

Their  home  was  the  abiding  place  of  the  preacher  in  charge, 
and  the  resting  place  of  every  weary  itinerant  who  passed  through 
the  city.  Asbury,  Whatcoat,  McKendree,  Hedding,  Soule,  An- 
drew, Emory,  Capers,  were  all  his  guests.  He  was  able  to  dis- 
tribute, he  was  ready  to  communicate,  and  given  to  hospitality. 

A  careful  business  man,  he  was  blessed  with  abundance,  and 
he  was  a  very  Caius  in  his  devotion  to  Church  interests. 


344  History  of 

He  was  emphatically  a  Methodist.  His  household,  his  private 
life,  his  business  affairs,  and  indeed  all  his  movements  were 
methodical.  On  the  same  day  in  May,  in  every  year,  by  the 
same  route,  stopping  at  the  same  houses,  he  went  to  the  same 
home  in  Buncombe  County,  N.  C,  and  on  the  same  day  in  Octo- 
ber he  returned  to  Augusta.  Without  him,  or  one  like  him,  it 
would  have  been  almost  impossible  for  Methodism  to  have  re- 
tained the  footing  she  had  gained  in  Augusta,  since  the  support 
of  a  pastor  would  have  been  an  impossibility.  In  1809,  John  H. 
Mann,  whose  mother  was  among  the  first  Method ;sts  in  the  city, 
joined  the  Church ;  for  over  sixty  years  he  was  a  leading  member 
in  it.  He  was  a  man  of  great  humor,  and  preserved  his  love  of 
fun  despite  his  consistent  Methodism  even  to  his  old  age.  A 
careful,  competent  business  man,  he  was  blessed  by  a  kind  Provi- 
dence with  sufficiency,  and  was  always  ready  to  do  what  he  could 
for  his  struggling  Church.  He  was  an  official  member  of  the 
Church  for  over  sixty  years,  and  an  active  one  for  a  large  part 
of  that  time.  He  was  as  steady-going  as  a  clock.  The  services 
of  the  Sabbath,  the  class  meetings  during  the  week,  and  the 
prayer  meetings  might  always  rely  upon  him.  His  house  was  the 
home  of  all  the  preachers  who  passed  through  the  city  after 
Asaph  Waterman  died.  Capers,  Andrew,  Dr.  Pierce,  Stephen 
Olin,  were  all  sharers  of  his  hospitality,  and  were  his  cherished 
friends.  He  was  the  father  of  Dr.  Alfred  T.  Mann,  of  the  North 
Georgia  Conference,  and  of  the  first  wife  of  Rev.  Dr.  Clark,  of 
the  South  Georgia  Conference.  His  wife,  who  travelled  beside 
him  for  over  fifty  years,  and  after  passing  her  three  score  years 
and  ten  sank  to  sleep,  was  a  meet  companion  for  such  a  man.  She 
was  of  those  saintly  women  who  made  the  Church  of  Augusta 
such  a  power  for  good  in  after-time.  While  Methodism  in  most 
communities  made  her  conquests  among  the  poor  and  humble, 
yet  among  those  who  were  drawn  to  her,  there  were  always  some 
from  the  upper  and  middle  classes  of  the  people.  It  required 
much  courage  in  those  days  for  a  woman,  especially  a  young  and 
beautiful  girl  moving  in  the  higher  circles  of  society,  to  go  to  the 
humble  meeting-house  on  the  commons,  and  to  abjure  the  vani- 
ties of  the  world  by  surrendering  ribbons  and  feathers  and  bows, 
and  when  one  did  this,  it  was  proof  of  the  fact  that  she  was  fully 
determined  to  give  up  the  world ;  and  this  many  did. 

Nor  were  these  from  among  the  poorer  classes  alone.  The 
most  distinguished  and  wealthy  families  in  the  State  were  repre- 
sented in  the  early  Church.  Flournoys,  Taits,  Remberts,  Glass- 
cocks,  Cobbs,  Fews,  Meriwethers,  Gilmers,  and  many  others  were 


Georgia  Methodism.  345 

among  the  early  Methodists,  and  there  were  some  of  these  even 
in  fashionable  Augusta,  but  the  bulk  of  the  membership  were 
plain  people — artisans  and  laborers.  The  wealth  of  the  Church 
was  small,  and  it  was  with  some  difficulty  that  they  could  support 
a  single  man.  Of  Collingsworth  we  have  already  spoken.  Abda 
Christian  and  Henry  D.  Green  followed  Collingsworth,  although 
there  was  a  great  revival  in  the  country,  and  although  there  had 
been  precious  meetings  in  Augusta,  the  number  of  members  con- 
tinued nearly  the  same  as  during  the  stay  of  Hugh  Porter,  and  of 
Lovick  Pierce.  Now  there  was  increase  and  then  again  decline, 
but  the  number  varied  little.  It  was  a  period  of  trial  to  the  young 
Church.  Augusta  was  a  godless,  fashionable  young  city.  In  that 
inimitable  book  the  Georgia  Scenes,  in  the  account  of  the  gander- 
pulling,  we  have  not  a  mere  fanciful  conception  of  what  might 
have  been  but  an  accurate  account  of  what  a  shrewd  fun-loving 
boy  saw  himself;  and  in  that  sketch  we  have  a  view  of  what 
boys  in  Augusta  sometimes  saw,  and  an  account  of  the  surround- 
ings of  the  city.  Campbellton,  near  where  Hamburg  now  is, 
and  Harrisburg  were  villages  near  by ;  the  trade  of  the  city  came 
by  wagons  from  the  West  and  Northwest,  and  the  South  and 
Southwest,  and  flatboats  came  with  their  loads  of  cotton,  and 
corn,  and  bacon  from  up  the  Savannah.  There  was  much  busi- 
ness done,  and  there  was  much  fun,  frolic,  and  dissipation. 
Methodism  was  as  new  in  its  features  to  the  gay  people  of  that 
city  when  Stith  Mead  first  preached  there  and  began  his  revival 
exercises,  as  Christianity  was  new  to  the  people  of  Corinth ;  and 
while  it  does  not  seem  to  have  met  with  the  active  persecution 
which  was  its  part  in  Charleston,  and  while  no  intendant  forbade 
the  assembling  of  the  people  before  sunrise,  and  no  angry  mobs 
dragged  the  preacher  to  the  pump,  as  in  Charleston,  yet  the 
Church  did  not  advance  rapidly ;  neither  among  the  whites  nor 
the  negroes.  The  colored  people  of  the  city,  as  in  Savannah, 
were  most  of  them  Baptists.  This  is  easily  explained  when  it  is 
remembered  that  the  Baptists  in  Virginia  were  for  many  years 
almost  the  only  evangelical  body,  and  that  most  of  the  colored 
people  who  came  South  were  Baptists.  This  was  not  so  in  South 
Carolina,  and  now  Methodism  reaped  a  great  harvest  among  the 
negroes  there,  and  this  persecution  in  Charleston  arose  largely 
from  a  misconception  of  the  aims  of  the  Methodists  in  relation 
to  the  institution  of  slavery,  and  the  social  position  of  the  ne- 
groes. In  Augusta  and  Savannah,  no  such  great  success  at- 
tended the  efforts  of  the  preachers  among  the  colored  people  as 
in   Charleston. 


346  History  of 

In  1 812  John  Porter,  the  brother  of  Hugh,  came.  He  was  a 
small,  slender  man,  whose  sermons  were  full  of  pathos,  and  who 
was  called  the  weeping  prophet.  He  had  good  success  in  his 
work,  and  during  the  year  there  was  a  net  increase  of  over  twenty 
members.  Save  these  lifeless  figures  which  the  minutes  give  us, 
we  know  nothing  of  the  history  of  these  years,  and  but  little  of 
the  workers  in  the  city  and  of  their  co-laborers  among  the  lay- 
men. 

In  181 3  Lucius  0.  C.  de  Yampert,  whose  name  became  after- 
ward so  famous  in  Alabama  for  princely  benevolence,  was  sent 
to  the  station. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  give  a  minute  account  of  the  Church 
in  the  cities,  and  I  must  pass  somewhat  hurriedly  over  many  of 
the  years.  Whitman  Hill,  Solomon  Bryan,  John  B.  Glenn  and 
Samuel  Dunwoody  came  and  went,  and  there  was  little  change. 
But  the  toiling  Church,  which  had  made  so  little  progress,  was 
now  on  the  verge  of  a  great  change.  Henry  Bass,  a  young  New 
Englander.  who  has  been  for  some  years  in  the  ministry,  was 
on  the  station  and  Samuel  K.  Hodges  was  the  Presiding  Elder. 
One  Sunday  morning  a  flame  of  revival  burst,  and  a  number  of 
the  leading  women  of  the  congregation  came  forward  and  joined 
the  Church.  These  were  of  the  leading  families  of  the  com- 
munity. Among  them  was  a  young  widow,  who  afterward  was 
the  wife  of  A.  Waterman;  and  the  wife  of  the  famous  General 
Glasscock.  Mrs.  General  Flournoy  was  also  a  member.  Mrs. 
Waterman,  as  she  was  known  in  Methodist  circles  for  many 
years,  was  one  of  the  most  saintly  women  of  her  day  and  so  was 
Mrs.  Glasscock.  The  Church  was  greatly  strengthened  as  the 
result  of  this  revival,  and  when  James  O.  Andrew  came  he  found 
a  church  of  over  one  hundred  earnest  people.  He  was  the  first 
married  man  to  have  a  charge  in  the  city.  A  little  four-roomed 
cottage  was  built,  and  an  effort  was  made  to  provide  for  his 
maintenance,  but  the  support  was  so  precarious  and  so  small,  he 
decided  to  locate  and  go  into  a  profession.  It  was  for  the  sake 
of  Amelia  and  her  children  that  this  resolution  was  reluctantly 
made;  but  when  he  mentioned  it  to  her,  she  would  not  hear  of  it. 
He  should  preach,  and  she  would  work,  and  so  she  plied  her 
busy  needle  to  support  the  family.*  He  remained  that  year  and 
returned  the  next. 

At  that  time  the  labors  of  a  preacher  were  very  heavy.  Sun- 
day at  11  a.  m.,  3  p.  m.,  and  nights,  and  Wednesday  night  there 


'Bishop  Andrew  told  tins  to  my  father,  Dr.  G.  G.  Smith.— G.  G.  S. 


Georgia  Methodism.  347 

was  a  sermon ;  Friday  night  a  prayer-meeting,  and  then  at  other 
times  special  classes  for  the  preacher  to  lead.  This  in  connection 
with  pastoral  service  made  his  life  a  busy  one. 

John  Howard  came  after  Andrew.  He,  too,  was,  as  we  have 
seen,  a  very  gifted  and  attractive  preacher,  and  while  he  was 
here  it  became  necessary  to  enlarge  the  church,  which  was  done 
by  adding  twenty  feet  to  its  length.  There  was  a  gracious  re- 
vival during  this  year,  and  Methodism  continued  to  grow  stronger. 
Then  came  Lovick  Pierce,  who  had  returned  to  the  work. 

It  had  been  seventeen  years  since,  a  timid  boy,  he  came  to  Au- 
gusta, as  his  first  station,  but  these  intervening  years  had  been 
spent  in  constant  labor  for  improvement.  He  had  secured  an 
advanced  medical  education,  and  had  spent  his  term  at  the  Phila- 
delphia Medical  College,  but  while  giving  himself  to  scientific 
studies,  be  had  made  them  tributary  to  his  ministry.  His  family 
were  located  in  Greensboro,  and  he  did  not  remove  them,  but  he 
spent  three-fourths  of  his  time  on  his  station.  He  was  succeeded 
by  George  Hill.  Augusta  had  now  over  three  hundred  members, 
black  and  white,  and  demanded  such  a  pulpit  supply  as  the  con- 
ference could  not  always  furnish.  For  four  years  it  had  been 
served  by  James  O.  Andrew,  John  Howard,  and  Lovick  Pierce, 
the  leading  preachers  of  the  conference.  Geo.  Hill,  while  a  most 
devoted  and  useful  man,  was  not  equal  in  ability  to  either  of 
them,  and  the  church  did  not  increase,  but  rather  declined  under 
his  pastorate.  Samuel  Dunwoody  came  again,  and  there  was 
still  decline.  William  M.  Kennedy,  whom  we  have  noted  as  be- 
ing on  the  Washington  Circuit  years  before,  had  now  reached 
the  front  rank  among  preachers  in  his  conference,  and  was  sent 
for  two  years  in  charge  of  the  station.  These  were  fruitful 
years,  and  at  the  end  of  the  second,  the  membership  was  greater 
than  it  had  ever  been,  amounting  to  nearly  400  members,  black 
and  white.  Nicholas  Talley  was  the  presiding  elder.  After  such 
a  succession  of  gifted  men,  the  church  had  become  somewhat 
fastidious,  and  earnestly  solicited  the  presiding  elder  to  have 
Dr.  Capers  appointed  to  the  station.  The  presiding  elder  was 
not  unwilling  for  such  a  result,  and  it  may  be,  promised  to 
use  his  influence  to  secure  it.  But  who  knows  the  secrets  of  the 
Bishop's  portfolio?  To  the  dismay  of  Talley,  when  the  appoint- 
ments were  read  out,  not  Wm.  Capers,  but  Nicholas  Talley,  was 
sent  to  Augusta.  It  would  have  been  painful  enough  for  the 
presiding  elder  for  any  other  man  but  Wm.  Capers  to  have  been 
sent,  but  when  that  man  was  the  very  one  who  was  expected  to 
secure  his  appointment,  it  was  doubly  painful.     The  people  were 


348  History  of 

bitterly  disappointed,  and  perhaps  resentful,  and  the  preacher 
thought  at  first  that  he  must  ask  to  be  released,  but  he  did  better. 
He  went  to  the  station,  and  to  hard  work ;  he  prayed  and  preach- 
ed, and  the  result  was  a  great  revival,  and  Augusta  reported 
nearly  ioo  new  members  that  year.  Elijah  Sinclair  came  in 
1829,  and  there  was  a  decrease  of  sixty  members.  Henry  Bass 
came  to  his  old  charge  in  1830,  and  spent  his  last  year  of  service 
in  Georgia,  in  the  community  in  which  he  had  such  success  years 
ago;  but  there  was  still  further  decline,  and  Augusta,  which  had 
reported  nearly  three  hundred  members,  reported  only  225  at  the 
end  of  the  year  1830.  In  183 1,  James  O.  Andrew  was  sent  a 
second  time  to  his  old  charge,  and  William  Arnold  was  the  Pre- 
siding Elder.  At  no  period  in  his  life  was  Bishop  Andrew  ever 
more  powerful  in  the  pulpit,  and  more  useful  in  the  pastorate. 
During  the  year  there  was  a  net  increase  of  over  100,  white  and 
colored.  Of  these  a  large  number  were  colored.  It  was  a  notable 
fact  that  that  great  man  who  was  immolated  on  the  altar  of  a 
professed  devotion  to  the  colored  race,  had  all  his  life  been  so 
remarkable  for  his  disinterested  love  for  that  people,  and  his 
untiring  labor  for  their  benefit.  The  work  of  the  pastorate  in 
Augusta  was  very  heavy,  and  as  he  was  selected  for  the  dele- 
gate to  the  general  conference,  an  assistant  was  decided  upon, 
and  George  F.  Pierce  was  selected  for  that  place.  When  the 
preacher  in  charge  returned  from  Philadelphia  a  Bishop,  the 
assistant  was  made  pastor.  The  office  fell  upon  young  shoulders, 
for  he  was  but  little  past  his  majority,  but  he  bravely  met  the 
demands  made  upon  him.  During  the  year  there  was  a  precious 
revival,  and  a  net  increase  of  over  100  members. 

Elijah  Sinclair  returned  to  Augusta  a  second  time  in  1833. 
There  was  no  increase  reported  during  that  year.  The  next 
year  Jesse  Boring  was  sent  to  the  station.  He  had  done  much 
hard  work  and  had  been  very  successful  in  the  western  part  of 
the  State.  He  was  now  about  thirty  years  of  age,  and  had  dili- 
gently improved,  from  his  first  entrance  into  the  work,  his  won- 
derful native  powers.  He  spent  only  one  year  on  the  station, 
and  George  F.  Pierce  came  again,  when  he  was  placed  on  the 
District.  The  next  year  Whiteford  Smith,  a  young  Carolinian, 
not  yet  an  elder,  was  sent  to  take  his  place.  He  was  then  a 
preacher  of  great  acceptability,  and  his  labors  were  blessed  dur- 
ing the  year  with  a  revival,  and  a  net  increase  of  over  forty  was 
reported  to  the  conference.  Although  Augusta  had  been  so 
blessed  in  her  preachers  since  1833,  there  had  been  decline  in 
numbers  as  they  are  reported  in  the  minutes:  the  report  of  this 


FIRS!     METHODIST  CHURCH,   ATLANTA,   GA. 


Georgia  Methodism.  351 

year  showing  245  in  1836,  against  over  300  of  the  year  1833. 
These  fluctuations  are  accounted  for  by  the  mode  of  keeping  the 
old  records  where  probationers  were  reported  as  being  in  the 
society.  Often  the  whole  list  of  probationers  was  cleared  by 
dropping  those  who  were  not  ready  for  membership,  after  they 
had  been  borne  with  sufficient  time,  and  we  may  conjecture  that 
this  was  the  case  in  Augusta.  Whiteford  Smith  was  returned 
the  second  time  in  1837.  Isaac  Boring,  who  had  been  serving 
one  of  the  hardest  districts  in  Georgia,  was  now  sent  to  this  city 
with  young  Walter  R.  Branham  in  his  second  year  as  assistant. 
It  was  the  first  considerable  city  Isaac  Boring  had  served,  and  he 
and  his  colleague  entered  upon  the  work  with  much  distrust  of 
themselves.  They,  however,  gave  themselves  to  hard  pastoral 
work,  to  faithful  preaching,  and  their  labors  were  richly  rewarded. 
It  is  not  possible,  in  the  space  I  have,  to  give  a  full  history  of  the 
city  churches,  and  I  must  confine  myself  to  the  more  important 
events. 

In  1837,  while  Caleb  W.  Key  was  pastor,  the  fearful  scourge 
of  yellow  fever  visited  the  city  and  Judge  Longstreet,  who  was 
an  assistant  pastor,  gives  a  full  account  of  those  days  of  the 
pestilence. 

In  1840,  the  great  James  Sewell  was  pastor,  and  in  1843, 
George  F.  Pierce,  then  in  the  vigor  of  his  young  manhood,  was 
sent  to  the  charge.  The  old  church  built  by  Stith  Mead,  en- 
larged by  John  Howard,  had  now  served  its  day  and  was  to  give 
way  to  a  new  church,  which  it  was  decided  to  build  on  the  lot 
of  the  older  one.  When  the  handsome  brick  church,  with  its 
wide  galleries  on  three  sides,  was  completed,  there  was  accom- 
modation for  a  large  congregation,  and  Sunday  after  Sunday  the 
church  was  crowded.  There  was  no  other  Methodist  church  in 
the  city,  and  the  labors  of  the  pastor  were  immense.  It  was 
evident  that  a  new  church  was  needed,  but  there  was  strong  op- 
position to  division.  At  last,  however,  it  was  decided  that  a  new 
church,  far  down  on  Green  St.,  should  be  built ;  and  while  James 
E.  Evans  and  young  James  O.  A.  Clark  were  in  charge  the 
church  was  built.  It  was  a  very  neat  brick  church  and  the  only 
one  in  that  section  of  the  city.  It  was  called  St.  James'  as  the 
older  church  was  called  St.  John's.  It  was  well  filled  from  the 
very  first  and  soon  became  a  leading  church.  It  had  able  pastors 
and  gave  them  a  good  support,  and  prospered,  temporally  and 
spiritually,  from  its  opening.  Years  after  it  was  built  it  was  en- 
larged and  improved. 

In  1856  a  Mission  Sunday-school  was  established  near  the  fac- 


352  History  of 

tory,  and  out  of  it  grew  a  City  Mission,  and  finally  the  erection  of 
a  good  church  and  parsonage  near  the  Augusta  Factory,  which 
was  known  as  Asbury.  When  the  new  mills  were  opened  in 
what  was  old  Harrisburg,  a  mission  which  developed  into  a  self- 
supporting  church,  was  established  near  them,  and  was  known  as 
St.  Luke's.  After  Paine  Institute  was  opened  for  students,  a 
church  at  Woodlawn  was  demanded  and  established;  and  on 
upper  Broad  St.,  in  a  destitute  section  (as  far  as  churches  were 
concerned)  the  Broadway  church  was  built,  a  parsonage  was 
secured,  and  it  was  made  a  station. 

The  City  of  Augusta  has  long  been  one  of  the  most  important 
of  the  charges  in  Georgia,  and  Methodism  has  done  much  hard 
and  profitable  work  in  its  borders.  The  Methodist  was  the  first 
organized  church  in  the  City.  The  Catholics,  Presbyterians  and 
Episcopalians  had  a  lot  donated  to  them  by  the  City,  but  Stith 
Mead,  out  of  his  own  pocket,  paid  the  hundred  pounds  needful 
to  purchase  the  present  lot  on  which  St.  John's  stands. 

Augusta  Methodism  has  had  her  centennial,  and  a  detailed  his- 
tory of  the  hundred  years  would  take  much  space.  The  oldest 
men  of  Georgia  Methodism  have  at  various  times  filled  her  pul- 
pits, and  the  church  has  taken  no  backward  step  since  the  date 
of  the  foundation  in  the  home  of  Ebenezer  Doughty. 

SAVANNAH. 

The  early  years  of  Methodism  in  Savannah  were  years  of  great 
trial.  Jesse  Lee  was  really  the  founder  of  Methodism  in  the  city, 
and  he  gathered  only  four  members — two  black  and  two  white. 
Samuel  Dunwoody  was  appointed,  and  he  gathered  three  more. 
Millard,  McVean  and  Urban  Cooper  followed,  but  had  no  suc- 
cess. Lewis  Myers  says :  "Urban  Cooper  expended  his  last 
three-pence-half-penny,  had  to  retire,  from  actual  want  of  the 
necessaries  of  life;  and  James  Russell,  bare-foot  and  bare-legged, 
entered  into  the  fields  to  procure  provender  for  our  troops  in 
the  war  with  England.  I  know  this  to  be  true."  Amid  such 
difficulties  as  this  the  seed  of  Methodism  was  sown  in  Savannah. 
Yet  it  was  decided  to  build  a  church,  and  by  a  man  who  generally 
did  what  he  attempted.  This  was  Lewis  Myers.  James  Russell 
came  to  his  help ;  but  he  who  had  always  multitudes  in  the  interior 
had  no  place  here  for  the  display  of  his  wonderful  powers.  He 
was  preaching  to  a  houseless  flock,  and  could  make  little  impres- 
sion in  a  community  accustomed  to  the  almost  matchless  elo- 
quence of  Dr.  Kollock,  who  was  the  great  preacher  of  Savannah. 


Georgia  Methodism.  353 

He  labored  hard  to  finish  the  church,  and  did  so,  and  as  we 
have  seen  entered  into  trade  to  relieve  himself  from  the  debts 
he  had  unwisely  contracted,  in  trying  to  finish  it.  The  twenty- 
five  members  he  gathered  together  now  had  a  house  to  worship 
in,  and  regular  services,  and  the  number  continued  slowly  but 
steadily  to  grow.  There  was  a  constant  influx  of  up-country 
people  and  Methodists  from  the  rural  districts,  and  the  church 
grew.  The  Presiding  Elder,  Samuel  K.  Hodges,  realized  the 
importance  of  the  station,  and  determined  to  secure  for  Savannah, 
if  he  could  do  so,  the  most  attractive  preacher  in  the  South  Caro- 
lina Conference,  and  at  conference  he  called  for  William  Capers. 
W.  M.  Kennedy,  the  Presiding  Elder,  resisted  the  appoint- 
ment. It  would  be  an  affliction  to  a  valuable  and  most  deserving 
man,  and  then  he  needed  him  in  Charleston.  The  Bishop  refused 
to  send  Capers  unless  he  was  willing  to  go.  When  he  was  con- 
sulted he  refused  to  choose,  and  as  silence  gave  consent,  in  Janu- 
ary, 1819,  William  Capers  was  read  out  to  Savannah,  and  to 
Savannah  he  went.  He  soon  did  there  what  he  did  everywhere 
—filled  his  house  with  delighted  hearers.  We  have  already  men- 
tioned the  kindness  of  the  Presbyterians  to  the  struggling  Metho- 
dists, and  Dr.  Kollock  soon  gave  special  evidence  of  his  kind 
feeling  by  calling  on  the  young  preacher.  This  was  the  beginning 
of  a  personal  affection  which  followed  the  gifted  Kollock  beyond 
the  grave.  The  church  was  poor,  but  now  the  congregations  were 
large  and  the  faithful  young  men  who  composed  the  official  body 
of  the  church,  and  there  was  now  quite  an  efficient  band  of  them, 
rallied  around  a  preacher  with  whose  talents  and  piety  they  were 
justly  delighted,  and  things  began  to  wear  a  more  sunny  aspect. 
The  church  was  in  debt  probably  for  the  parsonage,  but  a  tour 
of  the  pastor  among  his  old  friends  in  South  Carolina  soon  re- 
lieved it  of  that  burden.  The  next  year  Capers  was  returned; 
during  this  year  Dr.  Henry  M.  Kollock  died,  and  Dr.  Capers 
was  called  upon  to  preach  his  funeral  sermon.  By  the  time  he 
had  completed  his  pastorate,  the  Savannah  people  had  discovered 
that  in  the  unsightly,  barn-like  wooden  building  on  the  commons 
there  was  oftentimes  such  preaching  as  the  pulpits  of  elegant 
cathedrals  ask  for  in  vain,  and  when  John  Howard  came  the 
next  year,  with  his  handsome  person,  elegant  manners  and  fervid 
earnestness,  he  held  the  congregation  Capers  had  gathered.  He 
came  in  good  time  to  reap  what  Capers  had  sown,  and  a  year  of 
wonderful  prosperity  marked  his  stay  there.  During  that  year 
there  were  over  one  hundred  additions  to  the  church,  and  they 
were  of  the  first  young  men  of  the  middle  walks  in  life.  Per- 
haps there  was  not  a  man  of  fortune  among  them ;  but  young 


354  History  of 

merchants,  and  clerks,  and  mechanics,  who  were  to  make  for- 
tunes, were  converted  and  joined  the  church.  Among  these  was 
one  who  was  to  be  a  most  valuable  member  of  the  church,  until 
he  ended  a  useful  life  in  great  peace.  This  was  Benjamin  Snider. 
He  was  a  young  man  of  Effingham  County,  who  was  now  in 
small  business  in  the  city.  His  business  grew  and  continued  to 
grow,  until  he  was  a  man  of  considerable  wealth.  His  liberality 
was  equal  to  his  ability.  He  married  a  young  lady  from  the 
North,  and  she  was  for  many  years  one  of  the  most  efficient  of 
those  faithful  women  who  labored  in  the  Gospel  in  Savannah. 
When  Bishop  Pierce,  in  the  third  year  of  his  ministry,  was  in 
Savannah,  he  married  her  sister. 

There  were  many  others  who  in  after-time  did  much  for  the 
church — who  joined  the  church  when  Howard  was  the  pastor. 
After  years  of  almost  hopeless  toil,  then  years  of  doubt  and 
gloom,  the  church  was  now  established.  There  was  a  large  and 
comfortable  building,  a  neat  parsonage,  and  growing  congrega- 
tions. The  conference  was  able  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  pul- 
pit with  gifted  preachers,  and  the  next  year  James  O.  Andrew 
came  to  Savannah.  Savannah  was  indeed  blessed  in  her  preach- 
ers. Capers,  Howard,  and  now  Andrew,  came  one  after  the 
other.  The  Church  continued  to  advance  in  every  element  of 
strength.  Among  those  whom  the  preachers  mention  with  af- 
fection from  the  membership,  there  was  Lydia  Anciaux,  the 
mother-in-law  of  Senator  Berrien.  She  was  a  lady  of  large  means 
and  generous  heart.  Benjamin  Snider,  Thomas  Purse,  John 
Remshart,  Francis  Stone  and  George  Carpenter.  Not  far  from 
Savannah  was  the  settlement  of  those  Lutherans,  to  whose  in- 
structions, near  a  hundred  years  before,  Mr.  Wesley  had  been 
so  indebted.  They  were  now  to  receive  a  return  in  blessings 
from  the  followers  of  Mr.  Wesley ;  for  there  was  a  gracious  re- 
vival at  Goshen,  and  a  number  of  most  valuable  persons  were 
added  to  the  Church. 

While  the  membership  of  the  city  was  not  large,  the  labor  was 
heavy ;  and  George  White,  a  young  man,  was  sent  with  Bishop 
Andrew.  Young  White  did  not  remain  in  the  Methodist  church 
for  any  length  of  time,  but  united  with  the  Episcopalians.  He 
gave  great  attention,  in  after  life,  to  the  study  of  the  history 
and  resources  of  Georgia,  and  published  the  statistics  of  Geor- 
gia, and  the  historical  collections,  to  which  we  have  so  often 
referred  in  these  pages.  He  rose  to  eminence  in  the  Church  of 
his  choice,  and  died  Rector  of  a  church  in  Memphis,  Tenn. 
Bishop  Andrew  remained  for  two  years,  and  in  1824  Thomas 


Georgia  Methodism.  355 

L.  Wynn  was  sent.  He  was  useful  and  popular  here  as  every- 
where, but  the  Church  did  not  increase  in  membership  during  his 
stay.  He  was  followed  by  George  Hill,  of  whose  useful  labors 
we  have  had  much  to  say.  He  was  not  so  gifted  a  man  as  his 
predecessors,  but  was  zealous  and  devotedly  pious.  Yet  the 
church  continued  to  decline,  and  reported  only  126  white  mem- 
bers at  the  conference  of  1826.  Charles  Hardy  followed  him  on 
the  station,  and  there  was  still  further  decline.  Then  young 
George  Pierce  came ;  he  began  his  ministry  with  great  ardor. 
He  had  been  wonderfully  successful  in  Augusta,  in  awakening 
sinners,  and  hoped  for  the  same  success  in  Savannah.  He 
preached  with  great  earnestness,  and  things  indicated  that 
his  ministry  would  be  successful.  On  one  Sabbath,  when 
he  hoped  the  reaping  time  would  come,  he  preached  a  very 
earnest  sermon  to  an  apparently  affected  congregation.  Full  of 
hope,  he  invited  penitents,  and  there  was  not  a  response.  Greatly 
disappointed,  and  almost  broken-hearted,  he  went  to  his  room  to 
fast  and  pray  until  the  night  time.  He  then  preached  again,  as  he 
thought  an  inferior  sermon,  but  when  he  asked  penitents  for- 
ward, the  altar  was  filled  and  a  gracious  revival  continued 
through  the  year. 

Savannah  had  only  one  church  among  the  Methodists,  which 
was  a  wooden  building  in  the  lower  part  of  the  city.  During  his 
stay  the  first  conference  collection  reported  from  Savannah  was 
taken.  It  amounted  to  $130 — larger  than  from  any  charge  in 
the  State.  William  Capers  came  in  1834,  and  Edward  Myers  was 
sent  to  assist  James  E.  Evans.  Without  taking  more  space  than  I 
have,  I  cannot  give  the  history  of  Savannah  Methodism  in  full. 
The  church  commanded  the  best  talent  that  the  conference  af- 
forded, but  it  was  very  evident  that  without  some  very  decided 
changes  there  could  be  no  considerable  progress  in  the  city ;  so 
while  James  E.  Evans  was  preacher  in  charge,  he  projected  a  new 
and  handsome  church  in  the  upper  part  of  the  city.  Among  the 
members  of  his  church  were  some  well-to-do  factors  from  the  up 
country  who  contributed  liberally  to  build  the  church.  The  con- 
gregation had  grown  in  wealth,  and  was  able  now  to  build  a 
creditable  house  of  worship.  James  E.  Evans  was  not  only  a 
church  builder  but  a  noted  revivalist,  and  had  Edward  H.  Myers 
to  assist  him  on  the  Savannah  station.  A  blessing  followed  their 
efforts  and  440  white  members  were  reported  at  the  next  con- 
ference. 

Evans  was  returned  the  next  year,  and  James  B.  Jackson  was 
sent  with  him  to  the  charge.    Daniel  Curry,  the  young  Northerner 


356  History  of 

of  whom  we  have  spoken,  came  the  next  year;  but,  as  elsewhere 
when  he  was  in  charge,  the  church  decreased  in  membership  dur- 
ing the  year  and  reported  only  287  at  the  next  conference.  This 
was  too  much  the  case,  in  all  the  charges,  in  the  days  when  per- 
sons were  received  on  probation.  Often  large  numbers  united 
with  the  church  during  the  pastorate  of  one ;  but  not  meeting  all 
its  demands,  they  were  dropped  from  the  roll  by  the  preacher  who 
came  after  him.  Josiah  Lewis  succeeded  Daniel  Curry  on  the 
station,  but  the  ebbing  tide  still  continues,  and  at  the  end  of  two 
years  there  is  a  loss  to  the  station  of  nearly  100  white  members. 
Caleb  W.  Key  was  sent  the  next  year,  and  returns  the  next ;  and 
the  second  year  there  was  improvement  in  the  church  roll,  and 
401  are  reported.  In  1848,  Alfred  T.  Mann  and  Charles  A.  Full- 
wood  were  in  charge ;  and  there  was  increase,  and  450  were  re- 
ported on  the  roll.  The  church  built  by  James  Russell  and  Lewis 
Myers,  which  had  been  enlarged  in  1821  under  Howard,  and  to 
some  extent  improved,  was  still  too  small,  and  was  quite  un- 
comely. The  demands  of  the  city  were  imperious  for  a  new 
church,  but  how  many  hallowed  associations  clung  to  the  old 
church  and  the  old  spot  upon  which  it  stood !  That  it  was  almost 
out  of  town ;  that  the  building  was  sadly  out  of  keeping  with  the 
wealth  and  influence  of  the  congregation,  was  true;  but,  yet,  the 
surrender  of  the  old  and  first  church  could  not  be  made  without 
a  struggle;  and  at  last  a  new  and  second  church  in  addition  to 
the  first  was  decided  on,  and  Trinity  Church  was  planned  while 
Dr.  Evans  was  in  charge,  and  completed  under  the  pastorate  of 
Dr.  Mann,  who  followed  him.  It  was  a  handsome  building,  large, 
comfortable,  and  though  plain,  yet  elegant.  Since  this  time,  the 
course  of  the  church  has  been  steadily  onward.  After  the  build- 
ing of  Trinity  Church,  Wesley  remained  a  separate  charge.  In 
1850,  W.  R.  Branham  was  at  Trinity,  and  Robert  A.  Connor  at 
Wesley.  In  1851  Dr.  Lovick  Pierce  and  his  son,  Thomas  F. 
Pierce,  had  charge  of  the  two  churches ;  and  in  1853  W.  M. 
Crumley  was  sent  to  Trinity.  During  this  year  there  was  a  most 
memorable  revival  of  religion  in  the  city ;  one  of  the  most  sweeping 
any  city  in  Georgia  has  known.  Many  of  the  leading  laymen  in 
Georgia,  and  some  most  efficient  ministers,  began  their  religious 
life  during  that  season  of  refreshing.  The  next  year  Mr.  Crum- 
ley was  returned,  and  with  him,  as  assistant,  the  saintly  young 
Payne. 

Joshua  G.  Payne  was  the  oldest  son  of  James  B.  Payne,  and 
had  early  become  a  professed  Christian ;  and  as  soon  as  he  left 
college  had  entered  into  the  travelling  ministry.     This  was  his 


Georgia  Methodism.  357 

second  appointment,  and  his  last.  During  the  summer  of  this 
year,  Savannah  was  visited  by  the  most  fearful  epidemic  in  her 
history.  The  yellow  fever  raged  with  a  virulence  never  known 
there  before.  All  the  citizens  who  could  get  away,  fled  to  the  up 
country;  but  the  preachers  stood  nobly  at  their  posts.  The  two 
Methodist  preachers  were  ceaseless  in  their  labors. 

Young  Payne  early  fell  a  victim  to  the  dreadful  malady.  He 
had  toiled  bravely,  calmly  and  quietly. 

In  1855  and  1856,  Joseph  S.  Key  was  at  Trinity,  Thomas  H. 
Jordan  at  Wesley,  and  James  M.  Dickey  at  Andrew  Chapel. 
Beyond  this  period  it  is  not  now  necessary  to  go.  The  Savannah 
Church  has  continued  to  advance  in  usefulness  and  power  to  the 
present  time. 

The  old  church,  in  the  changes  of  population,  became  so  re- 
mote from  its  members,  that  it  was  decided  to  sell  it  and  purchase 
another  lot  in  the  newer  part  of  the  city.  A  church  built  by  the 
Lutherans,  and  sold  by  them,  was  purchased.  This  served  the  con- 
gregation for  a  few  years,  but  an  elegant  church,  known  as  the 
Wesley  Monumental  Church,  now  stands  as  a  permanent  monu- 
ment to  him  in  that  city  in  which  his  life  as  a  Methodist  began. 
All  branches  of  Methodism  contributed  to  the  erection  of  the 
building. 

Much  attention  from  the  beginning  had  been  given  to  the  col- 
ored people  of  Savannah  by  the  Methodists,  and  a  considerable 
measure  of  success  had  followed  their  labors.  After  the  white 
and  colored  people  had  remained  together  in  the  same  church,  it 
was  thought  proper  to  form  them  into  a  separate  charge  and  sup- 
ply them  with  a  separate  minister.  This  was  done,  and  Andrew 
Chapel,  a  neat  building,  was  erected  for  them,  and  for  some  years 
they  were  regularly  furnished  by  the  Missionary  Society  with  a 
preacher. 

There  were  many  very  valuable  and  intelligent  men  among 
them  who  seemed  much  attached  to  the  church  which  had  cared 
for  them. 

MACON. 

Macon  Methodism  began  when  Howard,  Hodges  and  Lovick 
Pierce  held  a  meeting  in  a  warehouse  where  is  now  located  Christ 
Church  (Episcopal).  The  meeting  went  on  for  four  days  at 
least,  and  was  productive  of  much  good,  for  during  the  year  a 
church  was  built  on  a  beautiful  lot  on  Mulberry  Street.  The  next 
year  Ignatius  A.  Few,  in  the  second  year  of  his  travelling  min- 
istry, was  sent  in  charge  of  the  station.    Dr.  Few  gave  dignity  to 


358  History  of 

every  place  he  filled,  and  he  soon  gathered  about  him  a  large  and 
appreciative  congregation.  Many  substantial  Methodists  from 
the  older  parts  of  the  State  had  already  moved  to  the  city,  and 
he  found  lay  members  ready  to  help  him  in  organizing  the  church 
for  work.  Among  these  were  Wm.  Fort,  Everard  Hamilton,  and 
Thomas  Hardeman.  During  this  year  a  Sunday-school  was  or- 
ganized. The  members  in  the  church  were  120.  Dr.  Few  was 
returned  the  second  year.  The  first  Georgia  Conference  was  held 
in  Macon  in  1831.  John  Howard  had  now  moved  to  the  city  and 
was  placed  on  the  Milledgeville  District,  and  Benj.  Pope  was  the 
stationed  preacher.  Although  the  district  claimed  much  of  How- 
ard's time,  yet  he  gave  as  much  as  he  could  to  the  city,  which  was 
his  home,  and  during  the  year  there  was  a  precious  revival,  and 
100  additional  members  were  added  to  the  church.  Among 
them  were  many  of  the  solid  men  of  Macon.  Pope,  who  had 
done  a  good  year's  work,  was  returned,  and  John  Howard  was 
retained  on  the  district.  The  next  year  Archelaus  H.  Mitchell 
was  in  charge  of  the  station,  and  in  1834  John  Howard  was  made 
agent  of  the  Manual  Labor  School,  and  Wm,  J.  Parks  was 
placed  on  the  district,  and  Dr.  Few  and  Thomas  P.  Lawrence 
were  sent  on  the  station.  John  W.  Talley  came  in  1835,  and 
there  was  a  gracious  revival.  After  this  meeting  Elijah  Sinclair 
proposed  the  building  of  a  female  college,  and  during  this  year 
the  college  was  projected.  These  were  flush  times  in  Macon. 
Cotton  came  pouring  into  it  from  all  the  new  country  to  be 
shipped  down  the  river.  Banks  were  established,  and  a  new  rail- 
road from  Savannah  was  being  pushed  towards  Macon,  while 
Macon  herself  was  striving  with  the  interior  counties  to  build  one 
to  the  west.  At  last  the  college  was  opened  and  George  F.  Pierce 
was  appointed  as  the  president.  John  P.  Duncan  was  nominally 
in  charge  of  the  station,  but  Bishop  Pierce  occupied  the  pulpit. 
During  the  year  there  was  a  gracious  revival.  It  is  impossible  to 
follow  up  this  history  in  its  detail,  and  many  most  valuable  men 
have  served  the  church  in  the  pulpit  and  in  the  pew  who  cannot 
be  mentioned.  The  village  of  Vineville  was  a  suburb  of  Macon. 
There  were  a  number  of  wealthy  people  who  wanted  services 
nearer  home  and  Vineville  was  made  a  station.  In  the  southern 
part  of  the  city,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  factories,  a  mission 
was  established,  which  was  developed  into  the  First  Street  Meth- 
odist Church.  As  the  city  grew,  a  church  on  the  outskirts,  in 
what  was  known  as  South  Macon,  was  demanded,  and  was  finally 
built.  The  plain  wooden  church  has  given  place  to  the  Second 
Street  Methodist  Church. 


Georgia  Methodism.  359 

A  church  in  the  neighborhood  of  Mercer  University,  known  as 
Centenary,  was  erected,  and  a  station  preacher  was  provided.  A 
Sunday  school  established  in  1859,  in  East  Macon,  resulted  in  the 
establishment  of  a  church  and  a  separate  station.  Services  are 
held  at  the  college  on  Sunday  night,  and  including  the  college  cha- 
pel, there  are  now  in  Macon  eight  separate  places  of  worship  for 
the  white  Methodists  (1912). 

All  the  colored  church  went  from  us  during  the  war,  except  a 
faithful  few,  who  form  the  Colored  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
in  the  city.  The  African  Methodists,  who  have  a  large  number 
of  the  old  members,  have  a  handsome  building.  In  no  part  of 
the  State  have  the  labors  of  the  Methodist  preacher  been  more 
fruitful,  and  nowhere  has  the  liberal  co-operation  of  the  laymen 
been  more  cheerful. 

The  Church  in  Macon  has  been  well  served  by  the  ablest  men 
in  the  Church,  and  it  has  always  had  additional  advantage  in  the 
services  of  the  preachers  at  the  college.  They  have  always  been 
able  men,  and  ready  to  work,  and  have  held  regular  services  in 
their  own  chapel  during  the  week  and  on  every  Sunday  night.  It 
has  not  been  a  usual  thing  for  a  year  to  pass  without  a  gracious 
revival  among  the  college  girls. 

The  Macon  Church  has  always  been  noted  for  its  good  women. 
It  would  not  be,  perhaps,  proper  here  to  speak  of  the  living,  and 
among  the  faithful  dead  we  are  not  to  choose. 

The  laymen  of  the  Church  have  been  among  the  most  conserva- 
tive and  liberal  in  any  church.  There  has  never  been  a  schism 
or  rebellion  in  the  history  of  the  Church.  They  have  received 
the  appointee  of  the  conference  without  complaint,  and  supported 
him  cheerfully,  whether  they  preferred  him  or  not. 

COLUMBUS. 

The  city  of  Columbus  was  laid  out  in  1827.  It  is  located  at  the 
head  of  navigation  on  the  Chattahoochee  River.  The  lands,  for 
a  considerable  distance  around  it,  in  Georgia  and  Alabama,  are 
very  fertile,  and  it  early  became  a  place  of  commercial  importance. 

James  Stockdale,  who  was  on  the  Columbus  Mission,  founded 
the  church  in  the  then  village  in  1828.  The  next  year  Andrew 
Hammill,  who  was  presiding  elder  on  the  district,  had  the  church 
in  charge,  and  that  year  a  plain  wooden  church  was  built.  Cassell 
Harrison,  who  followed  him,  found  a  society  already  numbering 
fifty-four  members.  He  added  fifty  to  it,  and  Jesse  Boring  fol- 
lowed him.     It  was  young  Boring's  first  year  of  stationed  life. 


360  History  of 

During  this  year  there  was  a  great  revival.  The  town  now  num- 
bered about  i, 600  inhabitants,  and  there  were  three  churches  in  it. 
The  religious  interest  was  so  great  that  the  congregations  were 
too  large  for  the  church,  and  in  the  beautiful  grove  around  it  a 
stand  was  built,  upon  which  the  young  preacher  preached  until 
conference.  The  old  wooden  church  was  torn  down,  and  a  small 
brick  church  was  erected.  This  was  the  first  brick  church  among 
the  Methodists  in  Georgia,  and  when  the  young  preacher  went  to 
conference  he  was  not  only  able  to  report  this  fact,  but  an  addi- 
tion to  the  Church  of  over  eighty  members. 

Dr.  Few  now  came  to  the  church,  and  seems  to  have  had  a  pros- 
perous year,  for  he  reported  162  white  members.  The  new  sta- 
tion had  tripled  its  membership  in  three  years. 

The  town  was  growing  rapidly,  and  many  came  to  it  who  had 
been  in  the  church  before,  but  there  was  a  decided  religious  in- 
terest in  it,  and  the  church  was  growing  most  rapidly. 

Jesse  Boring  was  sent  on  the  station  in  January,  1833,  and 
there  was  still  increase  reported  at  the  succeeding  conference. 
The  report  of  the  collections  indicate  that  the  Church  was  liberal 
and  able,  since  Columbus  sent  up  for  the  conference  fund  $166.06, 
much  the  largest  sum  reported  from  any  station.  Benj.  Pope  was 
the  successor  of  Jesse  Boring,  and  281  members  were  reported,  an 
increase  of  eigbty-one  during  the  year.  Although  Columbus  re- 
ceived a  large  accession  of  members  from  new  citizens  moving 
in  who  were  already  members  of  the  Church,  there  is  evidence 
in  these  minute  figures  of  great  religious  vitality.  Thos.  Sam- 
ford  came  at  the  next  conference.  Dr.  Pierce  had  now  removed 
his  home  to  the  west  of  the  State,  and  fixed  it  in  Columbus,  and 
was  appointed  on  the  station  in  1836,  and  his  labors  were  greatly 
blessed,  for  at  the  end  of  the  second  year  416  members  were  re- 
ported. The  work  was  now  so  considerable  that  when  A.  Speer 
was  sent  in  charge,  an  assistant  was  required,  who  was  to  be  sup- 
plied by  the  Presiding  Elder.  S.  K.  Hodges,  the  Presiding  Elder, 
resided  in  Columbus,  and  so  did  Lovick  Pierce,  who  was  now 
agent  of  the  Wesleyan  Female  College  in  Macon.  During  this 
year  there  was  a  most  remarkable  revival,  and  over  200  were 
added  to  the  church.  Speer,  Samuel  K.  Hodges  and  Dr.  Pierce 
were  all  workers  in  the  meeting,  and  there  was  such  influence 
felt  as  Columbus  had  never  known.  1839  was  a  year  of  revivals. 
Macon  had  been  wonderfully  blessed,  all  through  the  circuits  the 
revival  fire  had  burned,  and  now  Columbus  was  the  recipient  of 
showers  of  richest  refreshing.  The  revival  came  when  revivals 
frequently   come,   after   commercial   disasters   have   swept    from 


Georgia  Methodism.  361 

business  men  the  earnings  of  a  lifetime.  1839  was  a  year  of 
bankruptcies  and  of  revivals;  and  while  Columbus,  in  common 
with  every  business  community,  had  suffered  financially,  she  was 
blessed  spiritually. 

The  revival  interest  was  tremendous.  The  city  had  not  perhaps 
more  than  4,000  inhabitants,  and  it  was  stirred  to  its  depths. 

During  the  revival,  Jesse  Boring,  who  had  married  in  Colum- 
bus, returned  to  it  on  a  visit  and  one  night  preached.  He  had 
not  concluded  his  sermon  before  so  tremendous  was  the  gust  of 
feeling  that  the  whole  congregation  rose  to  its  feet,  and  the  altar 
was  thronged  with  weeping  penitents.  The  scene  was  one  such 
as  is  not  often  seen,  and  the  impression  it  made  has  never  been 
effaced  from  the  memories  of  the  few  who  now  live  who  were 
present  that  night. 

The  report  at  the  conference  was  a  total  membership  of  970, 
of  whom  570  were  white.  Dr.  Pierce  and  G.  J.  Pearce  were  sent 
to  the  charge  next  year.  As,  alas!  was  too  common,  there  was 
after  such  an  ingathering  a  decrease  in  numbers,  and  only  378 
white  members  are  reported  for  1840.  James  B.  Payne,  whose 
labors  had  been  crowned  with  such  success  elsewhere,  was  sent 
to  the  station  with  Mathew  Raiford,  whose  early  years  had  been 
spent  in  the  Asbury  Mission,  near  Columbus,  when  Indians  were 
still  in  the  woods.  It  was  a  successful  year,  and  440  members  are 
reported  at  the  next  conference.  James  B.  Payne  was  returned 
the  next  year,  but  what  was  gained  while  he  was  there  seems  to 
have  been  lost  during  the  year  1844.  In  1844,  Daniel  Curry  was 
the  preacher  in  charge.  The  whole  church  was  now  in  a  ferment, 
resulting  from  the  course  of  the  General  Conference.  Mr.  Curry 
was  a  bold  and  decided  man,  and  his  utterances  were  very  offen- 
sive to  the  people,  so  that  by  the  middle  of  the  year  Mr.  Curry 
preferred  to  leave  the  South  forever.  He  returned  to  the  North, 
and  his  after  history  is  so  well  known  that  it  is  not  needful  now 
to  refer  to  it. 

Caleb  W.  Key,  who  was  in  Talbotton,  was  required  by  the 
Bishop  to  take  his  place,  and  entered  upon  his  work  under  many 
discouragements,  and  remained  till  the  close  of  the  year.  James 
E.  Evans  was  appointed  to  succeed  him.  He  found  the  congrega- 
tion sadly  hampered  for  want  of  a  new  church.  They  owned  a 
large  and  most  beautiful  lot,  and  on  it  there  was  built  a  church 
for  the  colored  people,  a  room  for  a  free  school,  and  the  old  brick 
church.  The  question  of  building  had  been  agitated,  and  now,  by 
the  persuasion  of  the  preacher,  all  the  old  buildings  were  removed 
from  the  lot,  and  a  very  handsome  church  was  erected  upon  a 


362  History  of 

most  beautiful  spot  in  the  centre  of  it.  During  the  year  there  was 
a  gracious  revival,  and  an  accession  of  nearly  200  members.  The 
next  year  Evans  returned,  and  with  him  Miller  H.  White,  whose 
health  had  to  some  extent  given  way,  and  who  was  placed  in 
charge  of  the  colored  members ;  at  the  close  of  the  second  year 
of  Evans  on  the  station,  531  whites  were  reported  in  the  minutes. 
Dr.  Boring  was  now  sent  in  charge  of  the  work,  and  the  new 
church,  which  had  been  begun  the  year  before,  was  completed, 
and  was  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  God  by  its  projector,  Rev. 
James  E.  Evans.  The  collection  on  that  day  amounted  to  over 
83,000,  entirely  relieving  the  church  from  all  incumbrance.  Dr. 
Boring  was  placed  on  the  district,  and  Bishop  Pierce  was  sent  in 
charge  of  the  station.  He  was  chosen  that  summer  the  president 
of  Emory  College,  and  the  next  year  Samuel  Anthony  took  his 
place  in  Columbus.  Great  success  followed  his  labors,  and  Co- 
lumbus again  reached  the  point  it  had  held  after  the  great  revival 
of  1839,  and  570  white  members  were  again  reported.  Samuel 
Anthony  was  now  placed  on  the  district,  and  Dr.  Lovick  Pierce, 
with  Joseph  S.  Key  as  his  assistant,  on  the  station.  Though  there 
was  decline,  yet  the  Church  never  lost  again  the  high  place  it  had 
reached.  Still  there  were  only  475  members  reported  at  the  next 
conference.  At  this,  the  conference  of  1851,  Samuel  Anthony 
was  continued  on  the  district,  and  William  M.  Crumley  was  now 
sent  in  charge  of  the  station.  He  began  his  work  under  many 
discouragements.  A  timid  man,  who  had  had  few  early  advan- 
tages and  who  had  but  little  confidence  in  himself,  he  followed 
some  of  the  first  preachers  in  the  conference.  He  began  his  la- 
bors for  a  revival,  and,  after  six  weeks  of  effort  and  of  daily 
public  prayer,  he  had  no  evidence  of  success.  But  then  the  work 
began,  and  a  gracious  revival  swept  the  city ;  and  at  the  next  con- 
ference there  were  706  members  in  the  Columbus  Church.  Among 
the  converts  were  some  who  became  travelling  preachers  in  the 
conference,  and  many  who  have  been  leading  laymen  in  it.  Be- 
yond this  period  we  may  not  pursue  the  history  in  detail.  A 
second  church  became  a  necessity,  although  St.  Luke's  was  so  large 
a  building,  and  St.  Paul's  Church  was  built  in  1858.  Over  the 
river  was  the  village  of  Girard,  in  Alabama,  and  a  church  was 
built  there ;  then  one  was  built  at  the  factory,  then  one  on  Broad 
Street.  The  colored  people  with  the  aid  of  the  whites  built  them- 
selves a  large  church,  and  their  history  is  identical  with  that  of 
the  other  congregations  of  the  kind  in  the  cities.  They  left  the 
church  which  had  labored  for  them  in  the  days  of  slavery,  and 
united  with  the  African  Methodists. 


Georgia  Methodism.  363 

The  conference  has  frequently  been  held  in  Columbus  and  has 
always  been  kindly  cared  for.  In  one  of  the  previous  chapters 
of  this  history  we  have  already  told  of  the  novel  generosity  of 
the  city  in  1836,  when  they  contributed  $1,631  one  day  to  the 
relief  of  the  preachers  deficient  in  their  salaries.  In  1854  the 
General  Conference  held  its  session  in  Columbus,  and  for  one 
month  the  city  and  the  preachers  were  mutually  delighted  with 
each  other. 

In  no  place  in  Georgia  is  Methodism  relatively  stronger  than 
in  Columbus.  The  membership  of  the  Church  is  large,  and  has 
always  been  noted  for  its  liberality  of  view  and  for  its  genuine 
piety.  From  the  beginning,  the  Church  has  been  blessed  with  a 
most  valuable  body  of  lay  members. 

In  1858,  Columbus  was  visited  by  the  most  wonderful  revival 
in  her  history.  Alexander  M.  Wynn  was  the  pastor,  and  James 
M.  Austin  was  his  junior.  The  meetings  were  conducted  fre- 
quently by  laymen,  and  the  whole  church  seemed  to  be  aroused 
to  activity.  For  weeks  and  months  the  work  went  on,  and  hun- 
dreds were  added  to  the  different  churches.  There  are  now 
(1912)  in  Columbus:  St.  Luke's,  St.  Paul's,  Broad  Street,  Girard, 
Phoenix  City  and  Rose  Hill  churches  for  white  people,  and  a 
number  of  churches  for  the  colored  people. 

ATHENS. 

Athens,  up  to  1825,  had  no  church.  The  society  was  at  Hull's 
meeting  house  so  that  Hope  Hull  was  the  only  Methodist  preacher 
who  had  a  regular  appointment  in  Athens.  There  was  no  at- 
tempt to  organize  a  society  in  it,  and  those  who  were  Methodists 
held  their  membership  at  Hull's  meeting-house.  After  the  death 
of  the  old  veteran  in  1817,  the  appointment  at  the  meeting-house 
was  given  up.  The  people  of  Athens  were  supplied  with  preach- 
ing by  the  professors  in  the  college,  and  the  one  place  of  worship 
was  the  college  chapel.  In  1825  the  few  Methodists  of  the  village 
resolved  to  have  a  church  and  had  erected  a  plain  wooden  struc- 
ture. This  was  the  first  house  of  worship  of  any  name  built  in 
Athens.  Athens  was  now  a  sprightly  village  noted  for  the  cul- 
ture and  refinement  of  its  people.  It  was  remote  from  the  sea- 
board, and  the  back  country  upon  which  it  relied  for  its  trade  was 
thinly  settled  and  not  fertile.  The  Indian  frontier  was  only  fif- 
teen miles  away,  and  so  it  did  not  grow  rapidly  but  still  was  mod- 
erately prosperous. 

The  Rev.  Thomas  Stanley,  of  whom  we  have  spoken,  who  was 


364  History  of 

a  preacher  of  ability,  was  rector  of  the  Female  Academy,  and 
when  the  church  was  finished  was  placed  in  charge  of  it.  The 
two  sons  of  Hope  Hull,  Asbury  and  Henry,  had  their  homes  in 
the  village,  the  one  a  physician,  the  other  a  lawyer.  Gen.  David 
Meriwether,  one  of  the  first  Methodists  in  Georgia,  with  his  fam- 
ily, resided  there.  These  were  the  strong  friends  and  support- 
ers of  the  struggling  church.  The  conference  at  its  next  session 
united  Athens  with  Greensboro,  so  as  to  provide  for  the  citizens 
of  the  town  service  by  a  pastor  two  Sabbaths  in  the  month,  and 
sent  Lovick  Pierce  in  charge,  the  other  two  Sabbaths  being  sup- 
plied by  the  local  preachers.  The  results  of  this  increased  at- 
tention to  the  religious  interests  of  the  people  was  seen  in  a  gra- 
cious revival.  The  citizens,  and  the  students  of  the  college,  alike 
participated  in  the  blessings  of  it.  Thomas  Sam  ford  was  now 
Presiding  Elder,  and  he  was  a  man  of  mighty  eloquence  and  of 
untiring  zeal.  Thomas  Stanley  was  an  old  preacher  of  great 
ability.  And  now  came  Stephen  Olin,  who  had  been  elected  pro- 
fessor in  the  college,  and  who  identified  himself  at  once  with  the 
church.  Olin  has  had  few  peers,  and  we  think  no  superior,  in 
the  American  pulpit,  and  though  his  health  was  frail  and  he  could 
not  preach  often,  yet  when  he  did  preach  it  was  with  wonderful 
power.  The  remembrance  of  his  sermons  is  still  a  rare  treasure 
to  the  few  who  remain  who  heard  him.  Having  passed  himself 
through  a  fearful  conflict  with  skepticism,  and  having  come  forth 
a  victor,  he  was  especially  able  and  earnest  in  combatting  it.  He 
preached  one  afternoon  on  the  Evidence  of  Prophecy,  and  held 
his  audience  entranced  for  two  hours  and  a  half.  At  another 
tirne  he  summed  up,  with  great  fairness  and  mighty  power,  all 
the  objections  of  the  infidel,  and  then  after  he  had  made  the  timid 
tremble,  answered  his  own  objections  with  overwhelming  elo- 
quence. Lovick  Pierce  was  then  in  his  prime,  and  was  the  de- 
light of  every  congregation,  and  Thomas  Samford  was  a  great 
man.  Under  the  joint  ministrations  of  Samford,  Stanley,  Pierce 
and  Olin,  a  gracious  revival  began  which  swept  on  with  great 
power.  The  revival  began  in  the  college  among  the  students,  and 
resulted  from  a  prayer-meeting  instituted  by  one  of  them,  a  young 
P>aptist  preacher.  About  the  time  when  the  religious  interest  was 
beginning  to  manifest  itself,  the  Rev.  Joseph  C.  Stiles,  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  then  in  the  vigor  of  his  youth,  and  the 
zenith  of  his  fame,  came  to  Athens.  He  was  remarkable  as  an 
evangelist,  and  he  did  much  to  increase  the  religious  feeling.  A 
meeting  now  began  in  the  Methodist  Church,  and  a  mighty  tide 
of  revival  influence   swept  over  the  worshippers.     Many  were 


Georgia  Methodism.  365 

converted.  Among  the  students  converted  at  this  meeting  was 
George  Foster  Pierce,  the  oldest  son  of  Dr.  Lovick  Pierce. 

He  was  a  boy  of  sixteen  years  old.  He  had  been  an  earnest 
penitent  for  some  weeks.  One  night  his  mother  was  present, 
having  come  to  Athens  with  her  husband.  George  was  among  the 
penitents  again;  his  father  went  to  him  and  simply  said:  "My 
boy,  you  must  trust  your  Saviour."  He  looked  calmly  up,  and 
said:  'And  I  do,  pa."  With  a  joyous  heart  the  Doctor  took  him 
by  the  hand  and  led  him  to  his  mother.  That  overjoyed,  saintly 
woman  rejoiced  aloud,  and  the  multitude  joined  in  her  joy.  The 
good  work  went  on  with  power.  Dr.  Pierce  remained  two  years, 
and  then  James  O.  Andrew  was  sent  to  the  same  charge.  It  was 
all  the  more  pleasant  to  him  since  it  gave  him  an  opportunity  to 
see  his  venerable  father,  who  was  still  living.  With  the  Hulls 
and  Meriwethers  the  Bishop  was  also  connected  by  family  ties, 
and  the  sons  of  Hope  Hull,  his  spiritual  father,  were  now  promi- 
nent and  useful  members  of  the  society.  Madison,  the  next  year, 
was  joined  with  Athens,  and  Andrew  was  again  sent  to  the  ap- 
pointment. Alas  that  these  days  should  be  so  barren  of  incident — 
have  little  to  tell,  save  what  is  told  by  the  minute  figures !  The 
Church  grew,  but  was  evidently  not  strong,  since  187  was  the  total 
membership  in  the  two  villages. 

The  next  year  William  J.  Parks  was  sent  upon  the  Athens  Dis- 
trict, and  Lovick  Pierce  was  sent  to  Athens  and  Madison.  Uncle 
Billy  Parks  was  a  great  favorite  at  Athens  during  all  his  life. 
His  home  was  only  thirty  miles  from  the  village,  and  many  of  its 
people  had  known  him  from  boyhood.  No  two  men  could  have 
contrasted  more  strikingly  than  the  presiding  elder  and  the 
preacher  in  charge.  William  J.  Parks  was  plainness  incarnated. 
His  dress  was  plain,  his  manners  plain,  his  speech  was  plain. 
Polish  he  neither  valued  nor  sought.  A  block  of  granite  cannot 
take  the  polish  of  a  slab  of  marble,  and  Parks  was  granite  all 
over.  Lovick  Pierce,  on  the  other  hand,  was  a  man  of  finest  pol- 
ish. He  was  almost  fastidious  in  dress,  scrupulously  polite,  and 
elegant  in  manner — and  a  man  of  wide  and  careful  reading.  Yet 
the  pithy  sentences,  the  homely  illustrations,  the  genuine  force  of 
the  young  elder  made  him  a  favorite  like  to  the  gifted  pastor. 
They  could  not  come  into  competition,  for  they  were  moving  on 
different  lines,  not  crossing  each  other,  but  converging  at  the 
focal  point  of  doing  good  to  all  men.  The  hardy  back-woodsman, 
whose  life  had  been  one  of  toil,  though  near  twenty  years  the 
junior  of  his  frail  colleague,  who  had  preceded  him  so  long  in  the 
work,  passed  to  his  reward  before  him.     During  the  year  there 


366  History  of 

was  increase ;  but  because  we  cannot  separate  the  villages,  we  are 
unable  to  tell  where  that  increase  was.  The  next  year  Dr.  Pierce 
returned,  and  the  next  came  Benjamin  Pope.  He  was  on  his  na- 
tive heath,  but  this  prophet  had  honor  among  his  own  friends  and 
kindred.  We  have  already  spoken  so  freely  and  fully  of  him  that 
we  need  not  here  reproduce  what  we  have  said.  It  is  probable 
that  Pope  lived  in  Athens.  If  so,  he  was  the  first  resident  pastor 
there.  The  next  year  Lovick  Pierce  came  again.  There  was 
much  about  Athens  attractive  to  him,  and  he  was  attractive  to 
every  place.  Athens  had  been  in  his  circuit  the  second  year  of 
his  ministry.  It  had  been  in  his  district  when  he  was  a  young 
presiding  elder.  He  had  been  in  charge  of  it  the  first  year  it  was 
set  off  as  a  station  in  connection  with  another  village,  and  now  he 
is  the  first  preacher  who  has  charge  of  it  alone.  He  reported  at 
the  next  conference  107  white  and  70  colored  members.  At  this 
conference  we  have  the  first  report  from  the  collections,  and 
Athens  and  Madison  send  up  $9.41,  which  was  the  first  public 
collection  reported  from  the  two  towns.  Four  years  after, 
Athens  alone  sent  up  $119  to  the  same  collection.  William  Arnold 
was  presiding  elder  the  year  following,  with  W.  R.  K.  Mosely  as 
preacher  in  charge,  and  the  one  succeeding. 

William  Arnold  was  still  presiding  elder,  and  Jeremiah  Norman 
succeeded  as  pastor.  Norman  we  have  spoken  of.  His  beauty 
had  not  increased,  though  his  intellect  had  improved,  by  the  time 
he  came  to  Athens.  We  have  already  alluded  to  him  as  a  most 
excellent  preacher ;  his  looks,  however,  did  not  indicate  it.  A 
crowd  once  came  out  in  Eatonton  to  hear  John  Howard  preach. 
Jere.  Norman  had  unexpectedly  reached  the  village,  and  made 
himself  known  to  the  preacher,  who  never  having  heard  him  in 
the  pulpit,  was  rather  shy  of  inviting  him  to  preach,  but  courtesy 
required  it.  and  he  did  so  with  some  hesitancy.  The  preacher  used 
the  same  text  Howard  had  intended  to  use,  and  his  sermon  was 
so  far  beyond  what  Howard  thought  he  could  have  preached  that 
he  never  failed  to  speak  of  his  agreeable  astonishment.  He  was 
returned  the  second  year,  not  so  common  a  thing  then  as  now. 

W.  J.  Parks  returned  to  the  Athens  District  after  two  years  of 
hard  work  in  Southern  Georgia.  The  next  year,  Whiteford 
Smith,  a  young  South  Carolinian  in  the  fifth  year  of  his  ministry, 
was  sent  to  Athens.  He  came  from  Augusta,  where  he  had  spent 
two  useful  and  successful  years.  He  was  very  popular  as  a 
preacher,  and  the  spiritual  interests  of  the  church  began  to  revive. 
Among  the  most  prominent  citizens  of  Athens  was  Judge  Augus- 
tine S.  Clayton.    He  had  been  a  member  of  Congress,  a  Judge  of 


C.  E.  Dowman,  D.D. 
President  Emory  College. 


Georgia  Methodism.  369 

the  Superior  Court,  and  a  most  decided  skeptic.  His  wife  was  an 
earnest  Christian,  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Church.  While  the 
revival  which  had  begun  was  going  on,  he  was  struck  with  paraly- 
sis. He  was  visited  once  by  the  young  pastor.  Through  the 
kindness  of  Dr.  Smith,  now  professor  of  Wofford  College,  we  are 
able  to  give  in  his  own  words  an  account  of  this  interview  :  "When 
first  approached  on  the  subject,  he  said  he  was  entirely  satisfied 
with  his  condition,  that  he  had  always  tried  to  be  an  honest  man 
and  do  all  kindness  to  his  fellow  men — as  he  recovered,  however, 
his  mind  underwent  a  change.  He  felt  himself  to  be  a  sinner, 
unworthy  of  any  blessing,  and  threw  himself  without  reserve  on 
the  merits  of  Christ.  As  soon  as  he  was  able  to  go  out  of  the 
house  to  church,  he  expressed  a  desire  to  join  the  church  in  the 
most  public  manner,  that  he  might,  if  possible,  counteract  any 
evil  which  his  former  opinions  had  wrought.  On  the  Sunday 
when  he  made  this  public  profession,  the  church  was  crowded  to 
the  very  doors.  I  think  Dr.  Means  preached  for  me.  At  the  close 
of  the  sermon  an  invitation  was  given  to  those  who  wished  to 
unite  with  the  church.  The  Judge  arose  and  came  forward,  and 
was  soon  followed  by  one  of  his  daughters,  and  many  others. 
Among  those  who  presented  themselves  was  Alban  Chase,  be- 
tween whom  and  the  Judge  there  had  long  existed  a  strong  po- 
litical hostility.  As  soon  as  Judge  Clayton  saw  him  approach  the 
pulpit  from  the  other  side  of  the  house,  he  beckoned  to  him  to 
come  to  him,  and  extending  his  hand,  he  grasped  him  warmly. 
The  effect  was  overpowering.  The  whole  congregation  was  bathed 
in  tears.  The  Spirit  of  God  seemed  to  rest  upon  the  assembly, 
and  a  new  impulse  was  given  to  the  gracious  work.  The  subse- 
quent lives  of  these  two  excellent  men  gave  satisfactory  proof  of 
the  genuineness  of  the  work  wrought  in  their  hearts." 

The  revival  went  on,  and  over  sixty  members  were  added  to  the 
Church.    At  the  conference  he  was  returned  a  second  time. 

The  next  year  James  E.  Evans,  who  had  been  in  Charleston, 
returned  to  Georgia,  and  White  ford  Smith  returned  to  Charleston. 

James  E.  Evans  was  always  successful  in  winning  souls,  and 
his  labors  were  blessed  with  a  great  revival  in  Athens,  and  during 
the  year  of  his  pastorate  the  minutes  report  an  increase  of  over 
one  hundred  persons. 

In  1841,  Daniel  Curry,  and  in  1842,  W.  R.  Branham  and  Daniel 
Curry  were  sent  to  Athens,  which  was  united  with  Lexington.  Al- 
fred T.  Mann  came  in  1843,  an^  W.  J.  Parks  came  in  1844-45. 
The  church  moved  smoothly  on  during  this  period ;  there  was  no 
great  revival,  but  Athens  was  on  the  eve  of  the  most  wonderful 


370  History  of 

revival  she  had  ever  known,  one  of  which  we  wish  we  could  do 
more  than  tell  the  bare  story  which  the  figures  give  us.  G.  J. 
Pearce  was  in  charge.  He  was  a  stirring  evangelist,  and  great 
success  had  attended  him  elsewhere.  He  was  this  year  to  be  a 
great  blessing  to  the  people  of  Athens.  Dr.  Hull,  who  has  kept 
a  careful  record  of  the  Church  in  Athens  for  nearly  forty  years, 
reports  that  163  white  members  and  97  colored  joined  the  Church 
during  this  year,  and  this  when  Athens  was  a  small  country  town. 
The  revival  influence  was  felt  by  all  in  the  city,  and  all  who  came 
to  it.  The  church  was  now  a  strong  one,  and  the  colored  charge 
itself  demanded  a  pastor;  so  the  next  year  John  M.  Bonnell  was 
sent  with  G.  J.  Pearce.  John  M.  Bonnell  was  a  Pennsylvanian  by 
birth.  He  came  to  Georgia,  when  a  skeptical  boy,  to  teach  school, 
was  thrown  among  the  Methodists  in  Greenville,  Meriwether 
County,  was  converted  and  entered  upon  his  ministerial  work. 
His  almost  matchless  capacity  as  an  educator,  and  his  wide  and 
accurate  scholarship  called  him  from  the  pastorate  into  the  school 
room,  and  he  was  either  a  professor  or  president  the  larger  part 
of  his  life.  Had  his  health  permitted,  he  would  have  chosen  the 
pastoral  office,  but  it  did  not,  and  he  accepted  the  call  of  Provi- 
dence as  an  instructor. 

Dr.  Jesse  Boring  followed  him,  but  left  the  station  as  a  mis- 
sionary to  California.  In  1849-50,  Dr.  Eustace  W.  Speer  took 
charge  of  the  congregation.  The  old  church  did  not  meet  the 
demands  of  the  young  city.  It  had  been  built  when  Athens  was 
a  village  in  the  woods ;  now  it  was  a  thriving  commercial  and 
manufacturing  town,  and  a  handsome  and  commodious  brick 
church  was  now  erected. 

During  1857,  the  daily  prayer  meeting  became  an  institution  in 
many  of  our  cities,  and  Gen.  Thomas  R.  R.  Cobb,  who  fell  at  the 
battle  of  Fredericksburg,  and  who  added  to  great  abilities  as  a 
lawyer  and  a  statesman  the  beauty  of  pure  Christian  character, 
united  with  others  of  like  devotion  to  Christ,  and  a  union  prayer- 
meeting  began,  which  resulted  in  a  gracious  and  long-continued 
revival,  which  swept  through  the  year,  and  in  1858  there  were 
many  accessions  to  the  church. 

A  second  church,  in  proximity  to  the  manufacturing  establish- 
ment, on  the  river,  was  thought  to  be  a  necessity,  and  it  was  built. 

Athens  has  always  been  a  pleasant  home  for  the  preacher,  and 
its  appreciation  of  those  who  have  served  it  is  shown  in  the  num- 
ber of  times  the  same  preachers  have  occupied  its  pastorate.  Dr. 
Lovick  Pierce  was  stationed  there  three  times ;  Alfred  T.  Mann. 


Georgia  Methodism.  371 

two ;  Joseph  S.  Key,  three ;  H.  H.  Parks  has  spent  six  years  in  the 
charge. 

No  church  in  Georgia  has  had  a  body  of  laymen  more  worthy 
than  the  church  at  Athens.  It  has  always  been  among  the  first 
in  benevolent  enterprise,  and  its  religious  character  has  always 
been  high.  Of  these  laymen  we  can  do  but  little  more  than  make 
mention.  Of  David  Meriwether  we  have  spoken,  and  of  Hope 
Hull.  Asbury  Hull,  the  son  of  Hope  Hull,  was  one  of  the  early 
members  of  the  church.  He  was  a  lawyer  of  great  ability.  He 
was  a  statesman  of  the  purest  character.  Honored  by  all  of  every 
party,  his  death  was  justly  regarded  as  a  calamity. 

Dr.  Henry  Hull,  the  last  remaining  son  of  Hope  Hull,  was  for 
over  fifty  years  one  of  the  official  members  of  the  church  at  Ath- 
ens. Athens  has  always  been  noted  for  its  saintly  women.  Mrs. 
Flournoy,  the  sister  of  Col.  John  Addison  Cobb,  and  the  aunt  of 
Gen.  Howell  and  Gen.  Thomas  Cobb,  was  a  woman  of  whose 
saintliness  we  have  spoken.  She  lived  in  such  holy  communion 
with  God  that,  in  the  midst  of  the  most  fearful  trials,  her  shouts 
of  praise  revealed  the  joys  within. 

ATLANTA. 

Between  the  railroads  going  from  the  east  to  the  west,  and  from 
the  north  to  the  south,  was  fixed  a  point  in  the  forest  of  DeKalb 
County  known  as  Terminus ;  but  when  the  connection  was  made, 
the  little  settlement  was  called  Marthasville.  It  was  then  in  the 
bounds  of  the  Decatur  Circuit,  on  which  Anderson  Ray  was 
preacher  in  charge  and  Eustace  W.  Speer  a  junior  preacher.  The 
first  preaching  was  in  the  freight  house  of  the  Western  and  At- 
lantic Railroad.  In  the  early  part  of  1847,  Mr.  Mitchell,  a  liberal 
Irishman  who  owned  the  land  on  which  much  of  the  city  was  lo- 
cated, gave  to  the  several  churches  church  lots.  The  lot  he  gave 
to  the  Methodists  was  exchanged  for  a  lot  on  Peachtree  Street, 
Atlanta.  It  had  become  a  regular  preaching  place  for  the  circuit 
preachers  and  their  preaching  was  done  in  a  little  school  house 
built  on  the  church  lot.  This  year  a  Union  Sunday  school  was 
formed,  superintended  by  a  good  Presbyterian,  whose  name  was 
Houston.  During  that  summer,  a  subscription  for  $700  was 
raised,  with  great  difficulty,  to  build  a  church.  During  that  sum- 
mer Bishop  Andrew,  George  W.  Lane,  Dr.  Means  and  the  circuit 
preachers  held  a  five  days'  meeting  in  a  warehouse  in  the  city.  By 
the  time  the  shell  of  the  building  was  finished  and  the  house  was 
floored,  the  funds  were  exhausted,  and  the  church  was  without 


372  History  of 

pews  or  seats  of  any  kind.  A  number  of  puncheons  were  secured 
from  the  mills  and  seats  were  provided.  The  rude  platform  with 
the  prescription  table  of  Dr.  George  G.  Smith  formed  the  pulpit. 
John  W.  Yarbrough  and  James  W.  Hinton  were  now  in  charge 
of  the  work. 

Although  the  First  Baptist  Church,  which  was  aided  by  the 
Home  Mission  Society,  was  the  first  church  completed  in  Atlanta, 
in  the  First  Methodist  Church  there  was  the  earliest  religious 
service  of  any  regular  house  of  worship  in  the  city. 

There  were  several  local  preachers  in  Atlanta,  who  supplied 
the  lack  of  service  on  the  part  of  the  circuit  preachers,  and  ever 
and  anon  a  travelling  preacher,  passing  through,  filled  the  pulpit, 
or  laymen  gathered  the  members  together  and  read  one  of  Morris' 
or  Wesley's  sermons.  The  church  rapidly  grew,  and  by  the  be- 
ginning of  the  year  1849,  the  house  was  supplied  with  pews,  and 
was  filled  every  Sunday  with  an  attentive  congregation.  Lewis 
Lawshe,  of  whom  we  have  spoken  in  the  history  of  the  Church 
in  Macon,  had  now  removed  to  Atlanta.  He  was  a  local  preacher 
of  great  piety  and  a  man  of  great  affability.  He  was  the  moving 
cause  in  the  establishment  of  the  first  Methodist  Sunday  school 
in  the  city.  This  was  done  in  the  year  1848.  He  was  the  first 
superintendent.  During  the  year  1849  under  the  ministry  of  the 
Rev.  John  W.  Yarbrough  and  Alexander  M.  Wynn,  there  was  a 
great  revival  in  the  city,  and  at  the  end  of  that  year  there  were 
several  hundred  in  the  church. 

The  next  year  Atlanta  was  made  a  station,  and  Silas  H.  Cooper 
was  appointed  to  it.  He  was  not  suited  to  the  work,  and  remained 
only  a  part  of  the  year,  and  Dr.  James  L.  Pierce  succeeded  him. 
He  was  very  much  esteemed,  and  while  he  was  in  charge  Bishop 
Pierce,  then  president  of  Emory  College,  assisted  him  in  a  pro- 
tracted meeting,  and  preached  with  wonderful  power.  At  the  next 
conference  Charles  W.  Thomas,  a  young  Englishman,  who  after- 
wards joined  the  Episcopal  Church,  was  in  charge.  The  next 
year  W.  H.  Evans  was  appointed  to  the  station.  The  member- 
ship was  not  large,  nor  was  there  a  wealthy  man  in  it.  There  was 
no  parsonage,  and  when  the  preacher  came  he  was  forced  to  oc- 
cupy two  rooms  in  the  house  of  another  person.  He,  however, 
was  not  the  man  to  be  conquered  by  difficulties,  and  he  soon  had 
a  parsonage  built.  He  sought  out  and  gathered  in  the  unaffiliated 
members,  and  labored  earnestly  and  successfully  for  a  revival  of 
religion.  He  established  a  Sunday  school,  and  afterwards  built 
a  chapel  in  the  southwest  of  the  city,  and  at  the  end  of  two  years 
reported  to  the  conference  460  white  and  100  colored  members. 


Georgia  Methodism.  373 

The  debt  of  gratitude  due  to  W.  H.  Evans  by  the  Methodists  of 
Atlanta  is  indeed  a  great  one,  and  the  wisdom  of  the  Church  in 
sending  a  man  of  ability  and  experience  to  this  work  is  evident. 
During  this  year  Greene  B.  Haygood,  who  had  been  for  years  a 
leading  layman  of  the  church  in  Watkinsville,  removed  to  Atlanta, 
and  seeing  the  necessity  for  a  church  in  the  central  part  of  the 
city,  secured  an  eligible  lot  and  had  a  neat  brick  church  erected. 
Trinity  Church  was  the  first  brick  church  built  in  Atlanta,  and 
at  the  conference  of  1863  John  P.  Duncan  and  James  M.  Austin 
were  sent  in  charge.  There  were,  in  1866,  three  churches  in  At- 
lanta, but  they  were  under  one  pastoral  charge,  and  so  continued 
for  several  years.  Trinity  then  became  a  separate  charge,  and 
Evans  Chapel  was  a  mission  station. 

The  congregation  of  the  First  Church  was  sadly  hampered  by 
the  character  of  the  building,  and  a  few  years  after  it  was  built, 
it  was  not  large  enough  for  its  needs.  The  church,  however,  was 
well  supplied,  as  was  Trinity,  a  separate  charge.  It  was  pros- 
perous and  had  grown  until  1861,  when  there  were  two  pastors  in 
charge  of  the  two  churches.  Wesley  Chapel,  as  it  was  known, 
had  a  comfortable  parsonage,  and  gave  the  preacher  a  sufficient 
support,  as  did  Trinity  on  the  other  side  of  the  railroad.  There 
was  little  prosperity  in  any  of  the  churches  during  the  excitement 
of  the  war,  and  Atlanta  was  the  focus  of  excitement.  The  Meth- 
odist preachers  were  driven  out  of  the  city,  but  the  churches  were 
not  burned,  and  as  soon  as  the  war  ended,  the  exiled  returned  to 
their  homes  and  gathered  up  the  scattered  flock.  Evans  Chapel 
Mission  became  a  third  charge,  and  under  the  care  of  William 
C.  Dunlap,  Payne's  Chapel  was  organized  and  in  the  east  end 
of  the  city,  under  the  care  of  the  Rev.  Geo.  H.  Patillo,  St.  Paul's 
Church  was  organized.  Wesley  Chapel  was  torn  down,  and  a 
handsome  brick  church,  known  as  the  First  Methodist,  was 
erected.  The  First  Trinity  was  sold,  and  a  new  Trinity  was  built 
on  Whitehall  Street.  Evans  Chapel  gave  way  to  Walker  Street 
Church.  Park  Street  took  the  place  of  West  End.  Inman  Park, 
Edgewood,  Kirkwood  and  Grace  were  churches  in  the  eastern 
part  of  the  city.  St.  Mark's  was  built  on  upper  Peachtree;  St. 
John's  on  the  corner  of  Pryor,  and  sundry  chapels  and  small 
churches  were  scattered  through  the  city.  It  is  impossible  to  give 
the  proper  recognition  to  the  laymen  who  have  done  so  much  for 
Atlanta  Methodism,  nor  to  enter  as  fully  into  the  details  as  we 
would  like  to  do,  but  the  space  allotted  to  this  history  forbids  it. 
The  main  history  of  Atlanta  Methodism  was  made  after  the  time 
that  this  history  has  its  terminus,  and  what  has  been  said  of  events 


374  History  of 

after  1866  is  merely  supplemental.  In  the  history  of  the  North 
Georgia  Conference  will  be  found  much  valuable  material  which 
I  have  been  compelled  to  ignore.  It  has  been  over  forty  years 
since  the  church  began  to  rally  from  the  effects  of  a  fearful  war, 
and  the  city  rose  from  its  ashes,  and  the  story  of  the  work  done 
for  the  church  is  full  of  interest. 


REV.  S.  R.  BELK,  D    D. 

Successful  Pastor,  Evangelist  and  Lecturer. 


REV.  T.  R.  KENDALL.  M.  D. 

Successful  Pastor    North  Ga.  Conference 

And  Sister, 

Mrs.  Loula  Kendall  Rogers 

Author,  Teacher  and  Worker  for  Christ. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
Education — Missions — Benevolences. 

As  early  as  the  conference  of  1789,  the  second  in  Georgia,  as 
we  have  seen,  it  was  decided  to  establish  a  school  under  the  con- 
trol of  that  body.  It  was  to  be  called  the  Wesley  and  Whitfield 
School.  The  plan  was  to  secure  a  lot  of  500  acres  of  land,  and 
to  erect  suitable  buildings  upon  it.  Hope  Hull  was,  in  all  proba- 
bility, the  leading  spirit  in  the  matter,  and  he  was  seconded  in 
his  efforts  by  the  wealthy  and  public-spirited  Virginians  who  had 
settled  in  Wilkes.  John  Crutchfield,  Thomas  Grant  and  David 
Meriwether  were  the  early  friends  of  the  new  school.  Bishop  As- 
bury,  as  we  have  already  noted,  rode  with  Hope  Hull,  who  was 
on  the  Burke  Circuit,  during  the  next  year,  to  the  forks  of  the 
Ogechee,  in  what  was  then  the  lower  part  of  Wilkes' County ;  to 
select  a  tract  of  land  for  the  school.  John  Crutchfield  was  at 
work  to  secure  subscriptions.  They  were  to  be  made  in  cattle, 
rice,  tobacco  or  land.  Success  does  not  seem  to  have  attended 
the  efforts  made,  but  Hope  Hull,  after  his  location,  received  a 
deed  to  some  land  from  David  Meriwether,  for  the  school,  and 
the  Rehoboth  Academy  was  established  in  Wilkes  County.  Lewis 
Myers,  who  attended  it,  says  the  building  was  of  brick,  and  the 
school  was  under  the  rectorship  of  a  Mr.  Brown,  a  Presbyterian 
minister,  who  was  afterward  a  prominent  worker  in  the  great 
revival  in  Kentucky  in  1800.  Mr.  Hull  was  not  a  classical  scholar, 
and  while  he  had  charge  of  the  school  he  employed  competent 
teachers  for  the  more  advanced  studies.  Some  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished men  in  Georgia  here  received  their  educational  train- 
ing. This  academy  was  located  about  three  miles  from  Washing- 
ton. This  was  one  of  the  first  classical  schools  in  upper  Georgia. 
We  can  get  no  further  view  of  it  after  the  one  given  by  Lewis 
Myers.  This  sturdy  young  German  came  on  foot  from  South  Car- 
olina to  attend  its  sessions  as  early  as  1796.  When  Lorenzo  Dow 
visited  Hope  Hull  in  1802,  he  found  him  farming  and  teaching 
at  this  place. 

There  were  no  further  efforts  to  establish  a  church  school  for 
nearly  thirty  years.  In  Salem,  Clarke  County,  one  was  estab- 
lished by  some  Methodists,  and  in  1820,  application  was  made  to 
the  South  Carolina  Conference,  to  take  the  school  under  its  pat- 
ronage. This  request,  says  Dunwoody,  met  with  considerable  op- 
position from  some  of  the  preachers,  who  feared  it  was  the  enter- 


376  History  of 

ing  wedge  to  a  requirement  for  ministerial  education,  and  from  a 
fear  that  the  church  would  become  involved  in  financial  difficul- 
ties by  the  endorsement  of  it.  These  fears  being  removed,  the 
school  was  adopted  by  the  conference  as  a  church  institution. 
The  Bethel  School,  in  Abbeville,  of  which  Stephen  Olin  was  rec- 
tor, was  already  prosperous,  and  the  Salem  School  was  designed 
to  meet  a  like  want  in  the  Georgia  territory.  It  did  not  seem  to 
have  made  much  progress,  or  to  have  secured  extensive  patronage. 
William  J.  Parks  went  to  it  to  study  grammar,  and  while  he  was 
there  he  was  licensed  to  preach.  Immediately  after  the  division 
of  the  South  Carolina  Conference,  and  the  formation  of  the 
Georgia,  the  question  of  church  education  was  agitated  all  over 
the  Church.  The  General  Conference  of  1828  had  urged  the 
church  to  take  steps  in  that  direction.  The  Randolph  Macon  had 
been  established,  and  the  LaGrange  College  was  opened  in  Flor- 
ence, Alabama.  Each  of  them  desired  to  secure  the  patronage  of 
the  Georgia  Conference,  and  each  had  an  agent  at  the  conference 
in  LaGrange,  Georgia,  in  1833.  Dr.  Olin  was  now  president  of 
Randolph  Macon,  and  this  perhaps  influenced  the  conference  to 
give  it  its  patronage,  and  to  try  to  raise  ten  thousand  dollars  to 
endow  a  chair. 

Dr.  Few  and  Allen  Turner  were  each  of  them  sternly  opposed 
to  any  measure  that  would  prevent  Georgia  from  establishing  a 
college  of  her  own. 

There  was  quite  an  interest  in  industrial  education,  known  as 
Manual  Labor  Schools,  and  Georgia  decided  to  have  one,  and 
John  Howard  was  selected  as  agent  for  it.  The  school  was  finally 
established  near  the  village  of  Covington,  and  Dr.  Alexander 
Means  was  selected  as  its  superintendent.  He  gave  up  his  med- 
ical practice  and  went  North  to  study  the  system  of  industrial 
schools  in  operation  there.  He  entered  on  his  work  with  great 
enthusiasm  and  hopefulness. 

Industry  was  counted  as  a  great  virtue  in  those  days  and  there 
was  a  public  desire  to  connect  a  knowledge  of  agricultural  pur- 
suits with  a  course  of  literary  and  scientific  instruction  in  the 
education  of  the  young  of  our  sex.  The  superintendent  had  ap- 
plications for  admission  from  six  surrounding  States,  and  also 
from  Florida,  then  a  territory,  and  such  were  the  urgent  appeals 
to  admit  students  from  abroad  that  the  conference  felt  itself  con- 
strained to  pass  a  resolution,  interdicting  the  admission  of  pupils 
from  other  States  until  the  claims  of  their  own  people  were  first 
met.  Indeed,  the  popular  estimation  of  the  system  was  such  that 
the  superintendent  reports  that,  during  the  period  mentioned,  and 


Georgia  Methodism.  377 

up  to  the  time  of  the  establishment  of  Emory  College,  he  was  con- 
strained, for  want  of  sufficiently  ample  accommodation,  and  in 
conformity  with  the  "conference"  resolution,  to  reject  probably 
500  applicants  from  abroad.  It  still  continued  for  about  two 
years  afterward  in  active  operation  under  the  superintendence  of 
Rev.  George  H.  Round.  The  college  board  then  bought  out  the 
concern,  assumed  its  debts,  and  the  system  was  abandoned.  It  is 
true  that  among  so  large  a  number  of  students,  promiscuously 
assembled  and  received  from  all  classes  of  society,  and  during  the 
prevalence  of  our  "peculiar  institution,"  there  were  many  pupils 
who  were  reluctant  to  conform  to  the  rules  and  duties  of  the 
farming  department.  Such  annoyances  were  to  be  expected  in 
working  out  this  complex  regime,  so  novel  and  untried  in  the 
South.  But  this  was  not  regarded  as  the  primary  and  funda- 
mental cause  for  abandoning  the  system.  It  was  debt  constantly 
accumulating,  inexorable  debt.  To  keep  the  complicated  ma- 
chinery in  motion  required  the  inevitable  incurrence  of  expenses 
which  the  utmost  possible  clear  income  from  the  farm  proved 
insufficient  to  meet,  and  the  Manual  Labor  feature  was  discarded 
as  a  failure. 

To  supply  so  large  a  body  of  inexperienced  workers,  for  only 
three  hours  in  the  afternoon  of  each  day,  it  became  necessary  to 
stock  the  farm  with  two  or  three  times  as  many  horses  or  mules, 
plows  and  gears,  hoes,  and  axes,  etc.,  etc.,  as  any  thrifty  farmer 
would  require,  who  could  employ  his  hands  in  cultivation  during 
the  whole  day,  Saturday  included,  but  which,  by  long  standing 
usage  in  other  schools — the  students  claimed.  From  this  triple 
supply  of  farming  implements  there  was  necessarily  a  greater 
loss  by  breakage,  waste,  blacksmiths'  bills,  etc.,  to  which  may  be 
superadded  the  large  annual  amount  paid  to  the  students  for 
every  hour's  work,  and  the  interest  on  the  money  invested  with- 
out corresponding  returns  from  the  farm.  It  proved  to  be,  there- 
fore, an  onerous,  unprofitable,  and  losing  enterprise,  and  prudence 
required  its  abandonment.  And  the  same  fruitful  sources  of  finan- 
cial disaster  have  caused  the  failure  of  almost  every  other  similar 
establishment  in  the  North  and  West.  Perhaps,  however,  an  in- 
stitution supplied  with  a  large  "sinking  fund"  or  a  liberal  endow- 
ment might  be  warranted  in  reinaugurating  the  system,  and  thus 
securing  the  benefits  which  the  combination  of  labor  with  study 
promises  to  bestow. 

But  a  school,  however  high  its  grade,  and  however  useful  as  an 
adjunct,  was  not  a  college,  and  Dr.  Few  and  some  of  his  progres- 
sive friends  felt  the  need  of  a  higher  institution,  and  they  resolved 


378  History  of 

there  should  be  one.  The  times  were  prosperous.  The  Baptist 
Manual  Labor  School  was  to  be  transformed  into  a  Baptist  col- 
lege. Virginia  was  too  remote,  the  LaGrange  College  out  of  reach, 
and  there  was  no  other  college  west  of  the  Savannah. 

A  college  was  decided  on,  and  Samuel  J.  Bryan  and  Thomas 
C.  Benning  were  appointed  agents  to  collect  funds  to  erect  build- 
ings for  Emory  College.  The  Legislature  was  in  session,  and  in 
January,  1837,  the  college  was  incorporated. 

It  was  decided  to  establish  it  in  Newton  County,  not  far  from 
the  Manual  Labor  School.  There  was  a  tract  of  land  almost 
entirely  in  the  woods,  of  fourteen  hundred  acres,  which  was  pur- 
chased for  fourteen  thousand  dollars,  and  here,  one  bright  spring 
day,  the  foundation  stone  of  the  college  was  laid.  Dr.  Means, 
Lovick  Pierce,  Dr.  Few,  Samuel  J.  Bryan  and  many  others  were 
present.    Dr.  Means  thus  describes  the  scene: 

"The  spot  selected  for  the  erection  of  the  first  building  was  on 
virgin  soil,  in  the  midst  of  a  widespread  and  luxuriant  forest  of 
native  oaks — one  and  a  half  miles  from  the  town  of  Covington, 
and  within  the'  corporate  limits  of  Oxford,  which  received  its 
classical  appellation  at  the  suggestion  and  urgent  solicitation  of 
Dr.  I.  A.  Few,  in  honor  of  the  seat  of  the  old  English  University 
of  the  same  name.  All  was  silence  around.  No  sound  disturbed 
the  air.  The  very  song  birds  in  their  native  grove  hushed  their 
warbling  in  the  vicinity,  as  if  loth  to  disturb  the  hallowed  exer- 
cises of  the  hour.  It  was  a  lovely  day.  The  sun  shone  in  splen- 
dor from  above,  and  the  earth  beneath  was  robed  in  its  garniture 
of  green.  Both  heaven  and  earth  seemed  to  shine  propitiously 
upon  the  interesting  ceremonies  about  to  transpire,  as  the  prelude 
and  pledge  of  the  future  completion  and  success  of  a  great  edu- 
cational establishment,  under  the  auspices  of  Southern  Method- 
ism. Quite  a  number  of  preachers  and  laymen  were  present  to  do 
honor  to  the  occasion,  and  among  them  several  of  the  theological 
magnates  of  the  Church.  Many  have  since  been  called  to  their 
reward,  while  a  few  still  survive.  Uniting  in  the  solemn  services 
of  that  day  were  Dr.  Lovick  Pierce,  Rev.  Samuel  J.  Bryan,  Rev. 
Cbarles  H.  Sanders,  and  Dr.  A.  Means,  and  many  other  worthy 
brethren  and  friends  whose  names  at  this  late  day  cannot  be  re- 
called ;  who,  standing  under  the  open  sky,  and  protected  only  by 
the  overshadowing  foliage  of  the  grove,  sang  with  uncovered 
brow  an  appropriate  hymn  to  the  Most  High,  and  then  knelt  in 
devout  prayer,  in  which  their  prospective  institution,  Emory  Col- 
lege, was  humbly  dedicated  to  God — to  the  interests  of  her 
Church,  and  to  the  great  work  of  Christian  civilization,  for  all 


Georgia  Methodism.  379 

time  to  come.  Who  shall  say  that  the  pious  services  of  that  day 
did  not  meet  the  Divine  recognition,  and  the  prayers  then  offered 
have  not  already  been  significantly  answered  in  its  past  history, 
when  it  is  remembered  that,  within  its  first  thirty-eight  years  it 
gave  to  the  Church  and  the  world  about  580  young  men,  hon- 
ored with  her  diploma,  and,  as  nearly  as  can  be  now  estimated, 
125  of  whom  have  officiated  at  her  altars  as  ministers  of  the  Gos- 
pel, in  this  and  in  foreign  lands?" 

In  August,  1839,  the  college  was  opened  for  the  reception  of 
students-  Ignatius  A.  Few  was  its  first  president,  and  Alexander 
Means  and  George  W.  Lane  professors. 

The  agents  had  met  with  wonderful  success  on  paper.  Dr. 
Few  reported  that  $100,000  had  been  secured;  alas!  it  was  not 
secured,  though,  much  of  it  promised.  The  college  had  just  in- 
curred its  heaviest  liabilities  when  came  the  fearful  crash  of  1837, 
followed  by  five  years  of  financial  depression,  and  through  this 
she  had  to  struggle.  Dr.  Few  resigned  the  presidency.  Neither 
his  health  nor  his  inclinations  suited  the  lecture  room,  and  Judge 
A.  B.  Longstreet  was  chosen  to  take  his  place.  His  history  we 
have  already  glanced  at.  He  was  admirably  suited  for  the  posi- 
tion to  which  he  was  now  called.  A  stern  sense  of  duty  led  him 
to  relinquish  the  most  lucrative  practice  of  the  law  and  enter  the 
college  halls ;  even  from  them  he  was  called  to  his  last  fee  of 
$10,000.  He  was  a  fine  scholar,  of  exquisite  taste  and  highest 
accomplishment,  had  an  American  fame,  was  gentle,  amiable  and 
courageous.  He  was  possessed  of  striking  common  sense  and 
fine  business  sagacity.  He  found  the  college  deeply  in  debt — a 
portion  of  its  assets  consisting  in  worthless  notes,  and  the  build- 
ings insufficient.  Assisted  by  an  able  faculty,  he  drew  to  it  a 
large  patronage  from  all  sections,  and  with  great  skill  managed 
to  extricate  it  from  its  embarrassments.  In  1849  ne  resigned, 
and  Dr.  George  F.  Pierce  took  his  place.  He  was  not  only  to  be 
president,  but  agent,  and  he  labored  untiringly  for  its  benefit  until 
1854,  when  he  was  placed,  by  the  vote  of  the  General  Conference, 
in  the  episcopal  chair.  Dr.  Means  was  then  elected  to  the  vacant 
chair,  but  other  duties  required  his  attention,  and  after  a  few 
years  as  president  he  resigned,  and  Dr.  Thomas  was  his  succes- 
sor. The  college  was  now  very  prosperous.  Although  there  were 
two  Methodist  colleges  in  Southern  Alabama,  one  each  in  Louis- 
iana and  Texas,  which  drew  from  its  western  patronage,  and  al- 
though Wofford  College,  in  South  Carolina,  had  begun  its  career, 
yet  the  patronage  of  Emory  was  large,  and  a  bright  future  seemed 
before  it,  when  the  war  came.    The  students  of  the  college  went 


380  History  of 

to  the  battlefield ;  the  college  buildings  were  taken  for  hospitals, 
and  when  the  war  was  over  and  the  country  fearfully  impover- 
ished, the  college  found  itself  with  its  buildings  gone  to  decay, 
and  its  endowment  lost  in  the  crash  of  the  banks.  Dr.  Thomas  re- 
mained a  few  years  as  president,  and  then  left  Georgia  to  take  the 
presidency  of  the  Pacific  College.  Dr.  Luther  M.  Smith  was  now 
elected  president.  He  had  an  eminently  successful  career  as  a 
president,  and  the  college  has  since  gone  forward.  Dr.  Osborn 
L.  Smith  followed  him,  and  on  his  resignation,  Dr.  Haygood  was 
elected  to  the  vacant  chair. 

The  first  buildings  were  very  plain.  A  steward's  hall,  four  dor- 
mitories, and  a  plain  wooden  chapel  were  all.  The  experiment  of 
boarding  the  students  in  the  hall  was  not  satisfactory  and  was 
abandoned,  and  the  hall  was  thenceforth  used  only  for  recitation 
rooms.  There  was  no  large  chapel,  and  the  village  church  was 
by  no  means  sufficient  for  commencement  occasions.  New  facili- 
ties were  demanded  for  teaching,  and  the  old  hall  was  demolished, 
and  while  Bishop  Pierce  was  president,  and  largely  through  his 
exertions,  a  very  handsome  building  was  erected.  It  was  de- 
signed to  furnish  all  the  rooms  needful  for  each  professor,  for  the 
laboratory,  library,  and  a  most  commodious  chapel.  The  building 
was  with  some  little  exception  most  admirably  suited  for  the  pur- 
pose for  which  it  was  designed ;  but,  alas !  it  was  badly  construct- 
ed, and  began  to  show  early  evidences  of  weakness.  It  was  aban- 
doned just  after  the  war  and  torn  to  the  ground.  The  dormitory 
system  was  now  given  up,  and  through  the  earnest  efforts  of 
Bishop  Pierce,  where  the  buildings  stood  new  ones  were  erected 
for  teaching  rooms.  A  new  chapel  and  an  elegant  building  for  the 
library  and  laboratory  were  finished,  and  now  the  college  was  in 
shape  to  do  effective  work.  There  are,  in  addition  to  the  build- 
ings of  the  college  proper,  two  very  neat  Society  halls.  The  col- 
lege early  began  to  take  steps  towards  endowment.  Its  plan  was 
to  take  endowment  notes  and  collect  the  interest.  This  plan  al- 
ways fails,  and  it  failed  with  this  institution.  It  however,  col- 
lected and  invested  what  funds  it  could  secure,  and  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war  had  in  bank  stocks,  railway  stocks,  and  per- 
sonal securities,  a  considerable  endowment.  When  the  war  ended, 
the  banks  were  all  insolvent,  and  the  stock  was  worthless,  and 
its  State  and  Confederate  bonds  were  alike  valueless.  The  sacri- 
fices demanded  of  the  faculty  were  great,  and  rendered  more  so 
because  of  the  long  free  list  among  the  students.  All  ministers' 
sons,  all  candidates  for  the  ministry  unable  to  pay  tuition,  were 
taught  without  charge,  and  all  poor  young  men  who  were  unable 


Georgia  Methodism.  381 

to  pay  tuition  on  entering  were  granted  indulgence,  yet  the  col- 
lege held  on  its  way. 

While  Dr.  Haygood  was  president,  Mr.  George  I.  Seney,  of 
New  York,  a  leading  Methodist,  and  a  large  promoter  of  Georgia 
industries,  became  interested  in  the  two  Methodist  colleges,  Em- 
ory and  Wesleyan,  and  made  large  donations  for  improvements 
and  endowment.  Dr.  Haygood,  after  years  of  disinterested 
service,  resigned,  and  his  old  class-mate,  Dr.  Isaac  S.  Hopkins, 
long  a  professor  in  the  institution,  was  elected  to  fill  his  place. 
When  the  college  was  in  fearful  straits,  and  no  professor  could 
hope  to  be  supported,  Dr.  Hopkins  had  stood  by  it,  and  he  was 
raised  from  his  chair  to  the  presidency — but  the  Georgia  Techno- 
logical School,  in  Atlanta,  a  great  State  institution,  called  for  him, 
and  by  the  advice  of  friends  he  accepted  the  presidency  of  that 
school,  and  young  Dr.  Candler  was  chosen  to  take  his  place.  He, 
too,  was  an  alumnus  of  the  college,  and  set  bravely  to  work  to 
secure  a  handsome  endowment,  which  he  succeeded  in  doing.  Dr. 
Dowman,  another  Emory  man,  succeeded  him.  At  the  present 
time,  Dr.  James  E.  Dickey  is  in  the  presidency.  Through  Dr. 
Dickey's  efforts  the  college  has  been  more  largely  extended,  and 
there  is  now  (1912)  a  theological  department  connected  with  it. 

A  young  circuit  preacher,  Artemas  Lester,  on  an  up  country 
mission,  became  deeply  concerned  for  the  youths  of  the  moun- 
tain country,  and  encouraged  by  some  good  layman,  in  a  quiet 
and  secluded  valley  of  the  mountains  located  a  college  for  moun- 
tain people.  The  Presiding  Elder,  Rev.  A.  C.  Thomas,  gave  it  his 
very  hearty  support,  and  what  had  seemed  to  be  a  visionary 
scheme  began  to  attract  public  attention.  That  noted  philanthropist, 
Young  L.  G.  Harris,  became  interested  and  contributed  largely 
to  its  establishment,  and  at  his  death  bequeathed  to  it  a  handsome 
sum.  The  trustees  gave  the  college  his  name,  and  the  North 
Georgia  Conference  has,  in  the  Young  Harris  College,  one  of  its 
most  prosperous  institutions.  A  layman  in  Atlanta,  Mr.  A.  M. 
Reinhardt,  desiring  to  do  something  for  the  section  of  the  State 
in  which  he  was  born,  gave  a  generous  gift  to  establish  a  college, 
and  the  trustees  named  it  in  his  honor.  While  these  college  en- 
terprises belong  to  the  years  since  1866,  I  have  anticipated  them 
by  including  a  brief  sketch  in  this  chapter. 

FEMALE  COLLEGES. 

In  1836  there  were  but  few  high  schools  for  girls  and  young 
women  in  Georgia,  and  no  college  in  the  world  offered  to  young 
women  a  degree. 


382  History  of 

A  female  school  in  the  new  city  of  Macon  was  needed,  and  a 
meeting  was  called  to  establish  one.  Elijah  Sinclair  proposed 
that  Macon  should  establish  a  college  for  young  women,  where 
degrees  should  be  conferred.  The  idea  was  at  once  adopted  and 
large  plans  made  for  the  Georgia  Female  College.  A  beautiful 
lot  was  purchased  and  a  handsome  edifice  erected.  The  control 
was  offered  to  the  Georgia  Conference.  A  president  was  to  be 
selected,  and  all  eyes  were  turned  to  George  F.  Pierce,  then  pre- 
siding elder  of  the  Augusta  District.  No  work  could  have  been 
so  pleasant  to  him  as  that  in  which  he  was  engaged,  and  he  had 
little  relish  for  the  school  room,  but  he  yielded  to  the  solicitations 
of  his  friends,  and  being  in  full  sympathy  with  the  object  aimed 
at,  he  began  his  work.  An  able  faculty  was  elected,  large  salaries 
were  promised,  and  soon  a  considerable  patronage  was  secured. 
The  first  financial  exhibit  showed  about  $80,000  in  assets,  and 
$50,000  indebtedness;  but  this  was  on  paper.  The  crash  had 
come,  the  Macon  banks  were  insolvent.  Many  of  the  best  friends 
of  the  college  had  failed,  and  when  cool  business  men  examined 
the  financial  condition,  they  found  the  assets  worthless,  and  the 
debts  $40,000.  The  buildings  were  not  quite  finished,  and  were 
mortgaged.  The  friends  of  the  college  were  bankrupts,  and  the 
greatest  commercial  depression  was  over  all  the  land ;  impatient 
creditors  sued  for  their  claims.  The  college  was  put  up  for  sale. 
Bishop  Pierce  borrowed  the  money  in  his  own  name,  and  bought 
it  in.  The  plan  of  paying  the  faculty  stated  salaries  had  to  be 
abandoned,  and  Dr.  Ellison  took  the  institution  on  its  merits. 
No  money  could  be  raised,  interest  was  growing,  and  it  seemed 
that  the  Georgia  Female  College  must  be  abandoned.  Bishop 
Pierce,  whose  active  agency  had  kept  it  alive,  eturned  to  the 
regular  work,  and  Samuel  Anthony  took  his  place.  The  oldest 
mortgage  was  foreclosed.  He  persuaded  ten  men  in  Macon  to 
buy  in  the  buildings.  They  did  so,  paying  $10,000  for  them.  He 
then  secured  from  James  Everett,  of  Houston  County,  an  offer 
to  the  trustees  to  take  up  the  mortgage,  and  transfer  the  property 
to  the  Georgia  Conference,  advancing  $8,000  for  the  purpose,  on 
condition  that  he  and  his  legal  successors  should  have  the  privi- 
lege of  sending  pupils  to  the  college,  who  should  be  boarded  and 
educated  in  all  branches  free  of  charge.  This  was  about  ten  per 
cent,  interest  on  the  money  advanced,  but  it  was  the  best  the  col- 
lege could  do. 

To  conduct  it  on  the  projected  plan  was  not  possible,  so  the  in- 
stitution was  leased  to  Dr.  Ellison,  and  afterwards  to  Drs.  Myers 


Georgia  Methodism.  383 

Bonnell,  Osborn  L.  Smith  and  Bass.  They  took  all  risks,  met  all 
obligations  and  kept  the  college  at  its  high  grade. 

Mr.  Seney  decided  to  give  the  college  a  handsome  amount, 
which  was  invested  in  improvements  and  in  endowment.  It  has 
been  a  high-grade  school  and  especially  a  religious  one.  Its  influ- 
ence has  extended  all  over  the  Southern  States,  and  it  occupies 
today  a  place  higher  than  it  ever  held. 

Female  education,  after  this,  was  very  popular  in  Georgia,  and 
a  number  of  female  colleges  were  established.  One  in  Madison 
had  a  career  of  prosperity  until  it  was  burned;  one  in  Cassville 
met  with  the  same  fate. 

The  Andrew  Female  College,  in  Cuthbert,  had  a  more  fortunate 
history,  and  still  exists,  and  is  a  prosperous  and  valuable  school, 
belonging  to  the  South  Georgia  Conference. 

In  1855,  the  LaGrange  Female  College,  one  of  the  oldest  in 
the  State,  and  at  that  time  in  most  prosperous  condition,  was  pur- 
chased by  the  Georgia  Conference  for  $40,000,  the  city  of  La 
Grange  paying  $20,000  of  the  amount.  It  began  well,  and  for 
several  years  occupied  a  very  high  place  as  a  church  school.  Then 
the  chapel  building  was  burned.  An  effort  was  made  to  rebuild, 
and  the  building  was  near  completion  when  the  war  came  on  and 
the  work  stopped.  It  was  about  to  be  sold  when,  through  the 
exertions  of  Rev.  W.  J.  Scott  and  the  trustees,  it  was  saved  from 
the  block.  The  Rev.  James  R.  Mason,  a  noted  educator,  took  it 
in  charge,  and  rallied  around  him  an  able  body  of  trustees,  among 
them  the  liberal  banker,  William  S.  Witham,  and  saw  the  college 
firmly  on  its  feet.  He  resigned,  and  others  devoted  to  the  work 
took  his  place.  The  college  (1912)  is  now  under  the  charge  of 
Dr.  Rufus  W.  Smith  and  is  very  prosperous. 

The  wire  grass  country  decided  on  a  college  of  secondary 
grade,  and  established  one  at  McRae,  in  Telfair  County,  which 
has  been  of  great  service  to  all  the  section  about  it. 

SUNDAY  SCHOOLS. 

Mr.  Wesley  urged  his  helpers  to  talk  specially  to  the  children, 
and  pray  for  them  and  gather  them  into  classes  when  as  many 
as  ten  could  be  gathered  together.  This  was  the  custom  of  the 
old  preachers.  The  work  in  Georgia  was  generally  circuit  work 
up  to  1812.  Augusta,  Savannah  and  Milledgeville  were  the  only 
stations,  and  on  the  circuits  the  preacher  in  charge  had  but  little 
to  do  with  his  people  pastorally. 

The  first  Sunday-school  among  the  Methodists  of  which  we 


384  History  of 

can  find  trace  was  established  in  Milledgeville,  by  Sam'l  M.  Meek, 
in  1811.  The  second  of  which  we  get  a  view  was  in  Shiloh,  Jack- 
son County,  and  the  father  of  Jesse  Boring  was  its  superinten- 
dent. He  was  a  remarkable  father  of  some  remarkable  children. 
He  had  grown  to  manhood  without  even  learning  to  read,  and 
was  a  married  man  with  children  large  enough  to  go  to  school, 
before  he  had  an  opportunity  for  securing  even  elementary  edu- 
cation. He  went  regularly  with  his  children  to  school  and  learned 
to  read.  He  improved  his  mind  rapidly,  and  afterwards  repre- 
sented the  county  of  Gwinnett  for  several  years  in  the  legis- 
lature. He  superintended  the  first  country  school  of  which  we 
can  find  any  mention. 

In  1820  a  school  in  Savannah  was  established,  and  about  the 
same  time  one  was  established  in  Augusta,  which  was  on  the 
union  plan.  In  183 1,  James  O.  Andrew  and  Lovick  Pierce 
brought  the  subject  prominently  before  the  Georgia  Conference, 
and  a  new  impetus  was  given  to  the  work.  In  all  the  stations  and 
in  the  country  villages  Sunday-schools  were  established.  The 
catechism  and  spelling-book  and  an  abridged  hymn-book,  with 
Bibles,  constituted  the  outfit  for  work,  and  the  schools  were  far 
from  being  as  attractive  as  they  are  now.  The  size  of  the  cir- 
cuits, the  want  of  acquaintance  with  the  mode  of  conducting 
them,  and  the  failure  to  recognize  the  importance  of  them,  caused 
this  work  to  be  much  neglected  in  the  country;  but  steadily  there 
has  been  an  improvement. 

The  leading  men  and  women  of  the  Church  in  the  state  are 
connected  with  them,  and  thousands  of  the  children  are  converted 
annually.  In  all  the  circuits  and  stations  they  exist  and  afford 
a  place  for  lay-workers  to  put  forth  all  their  powers  for  good. 

MISSIONS. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  always  been  a  Missionary 
Church,  but  an  organized  society  for  the  purpose  of  establishing 
and  sustaining  missions  was  not  founded  until  the  year  1819. 
From  April,  1819,  to  April,  1820,  the  total  amount  of  disposable 
funds  reported  was  $2,658,161/0.  During  the  four  years,  from 
1819  to  1823,  the  whole  amount  collected  was  $14,716,  much  less 
than  one  conference  often  in  one  year  now  contributes.  Of  this 
the  South  Carolina  Conference  contributed  in  one  year  $1,374. 
In  1821,  the  South  Carolina  Conference  Missionary  Society  was 
organized,  and  held  its  first  anniversary  in  Augusta  in  1822.  The 
officers   were   Lewis    Myers,    President ;    W.    M.    Kennedy   and 


DR.  J.  F..   DTCKKY. 


SOUTH    GEORGIA    ORPHANAGE,    MACON,    GA. 


Georgia  Methodism.  387 

James  Norton,  Vice-Presidents ;  William  Capers,  Corresponding 
Secretary ;  John  Howard,  Secretary,  and  Whitman  C.  Hill, 
Treasurer.  The  total  receipts  for  the  year  were  $443.73^4.  One 
mission  in  Ohio,  among  the  Wyandots,  was  established  by  the 
parent  society,  and  the  second  mission  established  in  the  world 
by  this  afterwards  great  society  was  among  the  Creek  Indians 
at  Fort  Mitchell,  seven  or  eight  miles  from  Columbus,  in  the 
then  new  State  of  Alabama.  To  Wm.  Capers  was  delegated  the 
office  of  establishing  it.  On  the  19th  of  August,  182 1,  Capers  left 
Augusta  for  the  station.  This  tour  was  undertaken  to  ascertain 
whether  the  Indians  would  receive  the  missionaries.  Bishop 
Wightman  says  :  "At  Clinton  he  was  joined  by  Col.  R.  A.  Blount, 
a  personal  friend,  and  an  invaluable  ally  in  this  enterprise.  Gov. 
Clark  waited  on  him  in  Milledgeville  and  tendered  him  the  official 
recommendation  under  the  seal  of  the  executive  department.  On 
the  29th,  Col.  Blount  and  he  set  out  on  horse-back,  each  with  a 
blanket,  great-coat,  saddle  bags  and  wallet.  They  entered  the 
Creek  nation  on  the  first  of  September.  On  the  next  day,  Sunday, 
he  preached  the  first  missionary  sermon  ever  heard  between  the 
Flint  and  Chattahoochee  rivers.  This  was  at  the  house  of  a  Mr. 
Spain.  In  a  day  or  two  they  reached  Coweta,  the  principal  part 
of  this  Indian  town  lying  on  the  east  side  of  the  Chattahoochee, 
in  Georgia."  There  he  witnessed  a  ball  play,  of  which  Wightman 
gives  a  graphic  account  in  his  life  of  Capers.  He  had  an  inter- 
view the  next  day  with  Mcintosh,  who  was  afterwards  murdered 
by  his  own  people.  The  matter  was  taken  by  the  chiefs  under 
advisement,  and  was  to  be  submitted  to  a  general  council.  It 
was  held  in  November,  consent  being  secured.  The  Rev.  Chris- 
tian G.  Hill,  then  from  the  Black  Swamp  Circuit,  in  South  Caro- 
lina, was  left  in  charge  of  the  mission,  and  Capers  returned  to 
the  Conference.  At  this  session,  the  Rev.  Isaac  Smith,  then  pre- 
siding elder  of  the  Athens  District,  was  selected  as  superintendent 
of  the  mission.  He  was  thus  placed  in  charge  of  the  second 
mission  established  in  the  world  by  a  Church  which  has  since 
almost  girdled  the  globe  with  its  missions.  He,  with  his  wife  and 
his  son  James,  went  to  the  wilderness,  and  he  began  a  school. 
In  it  were  twelve  Indian  children.  Bishop  McKendree  remarked, 
"that  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Smith  was  preceded  by  much  pray- 
er, and  surely  nothing  short  of  a  single  desire  to  promote  the 
glory  of  God  could  have  prompted  him,  in  the  decline  of  life, 
to  embark  in  such  a  hazardous  enterprise.  The  manner  in  which 
he  conducted  himself  amid  the  difficulties  that  surrounded  him 


388  History  of 

evinced  the  wisdom  of  the  choice  in  selecting  Mr.  Smith  for  this 
station." 

Through  the  prudent  management  and  persevering  industry  of 
Mr.  Smith,  and  his  pious  consort,  the  school  prospered.  On  Sep- 
tember 2T),  Mr.  Capers  again  visited  the  Mission.  As  soon  as  he 
was  seen,  the  hills  resounded  with  "Mr.  Capers  is  come,"  and  pre- 
sently, he  says,  "I  was  surrounded  with  a  crowd  of  eager,  affec- 
tionate, and  rejoicing  children.  They  sing  sweetly,  and  behave, 
on  religious  occasions,  with  great  decorum.  One  of  our  boys 
in  three  months  has  learned  to  read  in  the  Testament."  Andrew 
Hammill  had  gone  out  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  old  missionary 
and  his  wife,  and  on  the  fourth  day  of  May,  1822,  they  arrived. 

Difficulties  sprang  up  between  Col.  John  Crowell,*  the  Indian 
agent,  Big  Warrior,  one  of  their  chiefs,  and  the  superintendent, 
Mr.  Capers,  calling  for  the  interposition  of  Mr.  Calhoun.  Crow- 
ell was  directed  to  give  all  countenance  to  the  Mission.  The 
missionaries  were  permitted  to  teach  the  children,  but  not  to 
preach  to  the  adults. 

The  faithful  old  laborer,  and  his  assistant,  McDaniel,  went  on 
patiently  doing  what  they  could.  "Last  Tuesday  night  at  our  fam- 
ily devotions,"  he  says,  in  a  letter  dated  October  23,  1823,  "Brother 
McDaniel  appeared  unusually  drawn  out  in  prayer.  After  he 
had  done,  several  of  the  children  appeared  very  serious,  and  they 
went  into  our  bed-room  to  bid  my  wife  good-night,  as  many  were 
accustomed  to  do.  One  of  them,  I  suppose  about  fifteen  years 
old,  was  much  affected.  My  wife  began  speaking  to  her;  in  a 
few  minutes  she  had  them  all  around  the  door  on  their  knees,  a 
number  of  them  in  deep  distress.  One  young  lad,  I  suppose  about 
sixteen,  who  can  not  speak  any  English,  stood  by  the  door,  se- 
rious for  some  time;  he  then  got  upon  his  knees  in  great  distress, 
weeping,  and  I  believe  praying  as  well  as  he  could.  Several  of  the 
children  prostrated  themselves  on  the  floor.  I  counted  seven 
kneeling  around  my  wife  as  close  as  they  could  get,  besides  a 
number  that  were  at  a  little  distance  from  her  in  the  room.  Dur- 
ing the  exercise,  one  girl  came  to  me  and  told  me  she  felt  very 
happy,  that  she  loved  God,  and  that  she  felt  the  love  of  God  in 
her  heart.  She  is,  I  suppose,  in  her  thirteenth  year.  After  about 
two  hours,  the  most  of  the  girls  went  to  their  own  room.  We 
soon  heard  them  at  prayer.  Upon  opening  the  door,  I  saw  a 
sight  truly  affecting;  they  were  all  down  on  their  knees,  pleading 


History  of  Miss.,  p.  118. 


Georgia  Methodism.  389 

with  God  for  mercy.  The  power  of  the  Lord  was  felt  by  all 
present.  We  have  reason  to  believe  that  three  of  the  children 
are  converted.  Two  of  the  lesser  ones,  one  a  daughter  of  Gen- 
eral Mcintosh,  in  her  tenth  year,  the  other  about  the  same  age, 
agreed  to  meet  every  evening  to  pray  together.  They  were  soon 
joined  by  others,  and  that  evening  I  believe  the  greater  part  of 
them  had  been  praying  in  the  woods.  Whenever  it  shall  please 
the  Lord  to  remove  the  opposition  that  lies  against  our  preaching 
I  can  not  doubt  that  the  desert  shall  rejoice  and  blossom  as  the 
rose." 

This  remarkable  revival  went  on  until  near  all  in  the  school 
were  converted.  The  noble  old  missionary  says :  'T  am  ready 
to  cry  out — Let  me  live  and  die  with  these  poor  outcasts."  Alas, 
however,  for  the  mission !  The  difficulties  between  Georgia  and 
the  General  Government,  the  sale  of  the  lands  by  Mcintosh,  and 
the  dissatisfaction  resulting  in  the  death  of  Mcintosh,  the  diffi- 
culty between  Crowell  and  Mr.  Capers,  and  Crowell  and  the 
Governor,  all  united  to  prevent  its  success,  and  it  was  abandoned 
in  1830,  to  be  renewed  under  far  more  promising  auspices  in 
the  Creek  Nation  in  the  far  West. 

The  Cherokee  Nation  of  Indians  occupied  the  lower  part  of 
Last  Tennessee,  western  North  Carolina,  Upper  Georgia,  and 
western  and  northern  Alabama.  They  were  a  fine  tribe,  and 
gladly  received  the  missionaries  who  were  sent  to  them.  The 
Moravians  had  a  mission  among  them  in  Murray  County  where 
is  now  the  village  of  Spring  Place.  The  American  Board  begun 
its  work  in  1817,  and  before  Methodism  entered  had  several  sta- 
tions in  Upper  Georgia.  Job  Guest,  a  native,  invented  an  al- 
phabet, and  the  testaments,  and  many  hymns  were  translated  for 
them.  Some  of  their  most  promising  youths  were  well  educated. 
They  had  beautiful  farms,  and  some  of  them  really  elegant 
homes.  In  1822,  at  the  request  of  Richard  Riley,  a  native  of  the 
nation,  the  preacher  from  the  Point  Rock  Circuit,  in  Alabama, 
Rev.  Richard  Neely  came  among  them,  and  Rev.  William  McMa- 
hon  held  a  quarterly  meeting  at  the  fort.  Before  the  next  con- 
ference, such  were  the  hopeful  results  of  the  meeting,  that  a 
missionary  was  appointed.  The  principal  part  of  his  circuit  was 
in  Alabama,  but  he  came  across  the  line  into  Georgia.  Great  suc- 
cess attended  his  labors,  and  they  had  a  camp-meeting  in  the 
nation.  In  1824,  three  missionaries  were  appointed  to  the  work, 
and  before  1827  over  400  were  in  the  church.  To  assist  the  travel- 
ing preachers,  there  was  now  a  native,  Turtle  Fields.  He  was 
then  a  young  man  of  twenty-seven,  was  soon  received  in  the 


390  History  of 

Tennessee  Conference  and  afterwards  transferred,  when  his 
people  removed  West,  to  the  Indian  Mission  Conference.  He 
worked  well,  and  died  peacefully  in  1846,  in  the  forty-seventh  year 
of  his  age.  The  mission  work  was  now  very  prosperous,  and  at 
the  conference  of  1828  over  800  members  were  reported.  In 
183 1  the  Cherokee  Nation  was  in  a  state  of  great  excitement. 
The  laws  of  the  State  were  extended  over  the  nation ;  the  mis- 
sionaries of  the  American  Board  refused  to  take  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  State  which  was  required,  and  were  arrested  and 
tried,  and  two  of  them  condemned  to  imprisonment.  This  is  not 
the  place  to  give  an  account  of  this  sad  affair,  and  it  is  sufficient 
to  say  that  the  missionaries  were  not  inhumanly  treated,  and 
were  soon  released.  The  Methodist  preachers  were  not  inter- 
fered with,  and  the  work  went  on  steadily.  In  1829,  the  late  Dr. 
John  B.  McFerrin  was  on  the  Wills  Valley  and  Oostanaula 
Circuit;  North  Fields  on  the  Coosawattee  in  Murray  County; 
Greenbury  Garrett  on  the  Chattooga;  and  Thomas  J.  Elliot  on 
the  Conesauga.  The  work  continued  to  prosper  under 
the  charge  of  the  Tennessee  Conference,  but  the  Indians  were 
continually  moving  to  their  new  homes  in  Arkansas;  and  in  1835 
the  Holston  Conference  took  charge  of  the  remnant  left.  There 
was  still  521  Indians  in  the  various  charges  in  1836.  At  this  con- 
ference the  Newtown  District,  under  the  charge  of  D.  B.  Cum- 
ming,  was  formed,  and  the  few  remaining  stations  fell  under 
its  care.  Although  the  commotion  among  the  Indians  was  great, 
the  work  prospered,  and  752  Indians  were  reported  as  members 
at  the  next  conference.  But  the  time  of  their  departure  was 
fixed,  and  soldiers  marched  through  the  nation,  and  gathered 
them  up,  and  marched  them  away  to  a  distant  and  to  them  un- 
known land.  The  religious  life  of  the  faithful  Cherokees  never 
shone  more  brilliantly.  They  had  fasted  and  prayed,  that  God 
would  avert  this  doom  from  them ;  but  when  it  came  they  bowed 
their  heads  submissively.  They  left  the  graves  of  their  fathers, 
their  own  humble  homes,  their  beautiful  mountains  and  valleys, 
and  made  their  way  sadly  to  the  new  land ;  only  God  and  God's 
faithful  servants  went  with  them.  When  they  reached  the  far 
West,  they  found  the  missionary,  and  the  mission  school  already 
there,  and  there  still  the  work  goes  on. 

We  have  already  given  in  the  current  history  a  full  account  of 
the  domestic  mission  work ;  but  the  work  among  the  slaves, 
while  it  might  be  justily  placed  in  this  category,  deserves  a  special 
notice. 

The  negroes  of  Georgia  were  of  two  very  different  classes. 


Georgia  Methodism.  391 

The  negroes  of  the  interior  were  nearly  all  of  them  from  Mary- 
land, Virginia,  North  and  South  Carolina.  They  were  American 
born,  and  many  of  them  had  descended  from  Americo-African 
parents.  Their  ancestry  had  been  imported  into  this  country  a 
century  or  more  before.  They  had  received  some  early  training, 
and  if  they  had  not  become  Christians,  they  had  at  least  ceased 
to  be  heathens.  They  were  cared  for  by  the  Methodist  preachers 
from  the  beginning  of  their  work,  and  many  of  them  were  faith- 
ful Christians.  The  large  plantations  of  after  time  had  not  yet 
become  common,  and  as  in  every  country  church  there  was  a  place 
for  them,  and  in  every  town  church  there  were  galleries  for  their 
special  use,  the  negroes  received  as  regular  church  services  as 
the  whites.  But  there  was  another,  and  a  very  large,  class  of 
negroes  under  the  charge  of  the  Georgia  Conference.  These 
were  those  who  had  been  more  lately  introduced  into  Georgia 
from  Africa.  The  trustees  of  the  colony  forbade  the  introduc- 
tion of  slaves  or  rum;  but  after  the  surrender  of  the  charter  to 
the  crown,  these  laws  were  repealed,  and  even  before  the  Revo- 
lution, large  numbers  of  slaves  were  imported  chiefly  to  cultivate 
the  rice  plantations,  which  were  being  then  opened  and  success- 
fully conducted.  The  Sea  Islands,  in  which  the  Sea  Island  cotton 
alone  was  made,  were  now  settled,  and  the  culture  of  this  variety 
of  cotton  extensively  entered  into.  This  industry  demanded  much 
labor,  and  Africans  were  imported  in  large  numbers.  As  they 
lived  on  large  plantations,  remote  from  negroes  of  American 
birth,  and  subject  to  no  direct  civilizing  or  Christianizing  influ- 
ences, they  preserved  in  many  respects  their  Pagan  features,  al- 
most unchanged.  After  the  invention  of  the  cotton-gin,  a  great 
impetus  was  given  to  cotton-producing,  and  as  the  slave  trade 
was  to  be  forbidden  by  law  after  1808,  a  great  impetus  was  given 
to  it  before  that  epoch,  and  as  land  and  slaves  were  both  cheap, 
and  cotton  high,  many  new  negroes  were  settled  in  gangs  upon 
the  higher  lands  of  the  interior.  It  will  be  seen  from  this  survey 
that  the  African  negroes  introduced  into  these  Sea  Island  sections, 
were  likely  to  preserve  forever  their  African  features  of  charac- 
ter. The  owners  of  these  plantations  were  living  in  the  cities, 
or  if  on  the  plantation  at  all,  only  there  for  a  few  months  in  win- 
ter time ;  and  their  slaves  had  little  intercourse  with  them. 

The  culture  of  rice  and  the  culture  of  Sea  Island  cotton  was 
comparatively  light  labor ;  though,  at  seasons,  it  demanded  a  very 
lengthened  and  constant  work,  and  as  it  suited  these  poor  heath- 
ens, they  increased  rapidly.  Living  in  their  own  colonies,  they 
were  not  discontented.     They  were  preserved,  by  the  slave  gov- 


392 


History  of 


ernment  under  which  they  were,  from  the  gross  vices  to  which, 
in  their  African  life,  they  had  been  subject,  such  as  murder  and 
rapine;  but  in  the  vices  of  theft,  lasciviousness,  lying,  they  were 
steeped.  Such  was  the  condition,  not  of  the  whole  negro-race  in 
the  South,  but  of  the  very  considerable  part  of  it.  It  was  the 
condition  of  these  semi-barbarians,  and  more  than  semi-heathen, 
that  moved  the  great  heart  of  William  Capers,  and  led  him  to 
work  for  the  founding  of  mission  stations  among  them.  He 
found  among  the  largest  planters  efficient  coadjutors,  one  espe- 
cially, Col.  Morris,  a  son  of  Gouverneur  Morris,  of  New  York, 
and  an  Episcopalian,  entered  into  it  with  all  his  earnestness  and 
zeal.* 

This  work  was  now  to  be  commenced  in  Georgia. 

The  first  work  among  the  negroes  was,  however,  done  in 
1831,  among  the  more  intelligent  negroes  of  the  up-country,  on 
the  large  plantations  on  the  rivers.  In  1833,  Willis  D.  Matthews 
and  Samuel  J.  Bryan  were  sent  to  the  rice  plantations ;  preachers 
were  detailed  to  work,  among  the  negroes  especially,  through  all 
the  charges,  where  there  were  many  of  them. 

It  was  the  purpose  of  the  church  to  give  religious  instruction 
to  these  people,  and  to  catechise  them  with  care.  This  was  at- 
tempted on  the  larger  plantations,  and  to  some  extent  carried 
out;  but,  gradually,  it  became  the  usage  of  the  missionaries  to  the 
blacks  mainly  to  preach  to  the  large  congregations  of  colored 
people  who  came  out  to  hear  the  word. 

It  is  our  office  more  to  relate  facts  than  to  read  homilies ; 
but  we  can  but  feel  that  a  work  of  much  greater  permanence 
would  have  been  done  in  the  domestic  field,  both  among  whites 
and  slaves,  if  our  preachers  had  not  preached  less,  but  had  taught 
more. 

The  missionaries  met  with  many  trials.  While  there  was  much 
sympathy  lavished,  and  justly  so,  upon  the  man  who  went  across 
the  seas  on  a  foreign  mission ;  while  he  was  abundantly  provided 
for,  the  missionary  to  the  blacks  received  a  scanty  support,  and 
but  little  consideration.  In  many  of  the  fields  of  labor  it  was 
exile  from  refined  society,  life  among  the  degraded  and  ignorant, 


*  In  1859,  while  returning  from  New  York  to  Georgia,  I  had  the  privilege 
of  passing  several  days  on  a  steamer  with  this  excellent  man.  He  mentioned 
the  intense  opposition  of  his  neighbors  to  this  work,  but  as  he  had  the 
missionary  on  his  plantations,  they  soon  saw  its  beneficent  effect  and  with- 
drew it,  and  spoke  with  much  delight  of  the  wonderful  change  which  came 
over  them  when  they  came  under  the  fascinating  influence  of  Wm.  Capers. 


Georgia  Methodism.  393 

toil  put  forth  without  much  apparent  result,  the  inhaling  of  ma- 
laria, and  often  meeting  early  death ;  but,  despite  all  this,  the 
work  went  on,  and  successfully.  The  negro  on  the  rice  planta- 
tions did  not  become,  in  a  generation,  as  intelligent,  consistent, 
and  Christian  as  the  Anglo-Saxon  who  had  been  surrounded  by 
elevating  influences  for  centuries.  His  moral  tone  was  not  high, 
his  views  were  crude,  his  errors  many ;  but  he  ceased  to  be  a 
heathen,  and  often-time  sincerely  loved  and  sincerely  strove  to 
serve  his  great  Father  in  Heaven,  and  his  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ.  We  have  already  spoken  of  the  great  work  among 
the  more  intelligent  colored  people  of  the  up-country,  and  espe- 
cially of  the  towns  and  cities.  In  i860,  there  was  27,000  colored 
people  in  the  Church  in  Georgia. 

When  the  war  ended,  and  with  its  end  came  a  change  so  radi- 
cal as  that  of  emancipation  from  slavery,  it  was  not  unnatural 
that  a  race  so  easily  influenced  should  be  persuaded  that  they 
ought  to  change  their  Church  relations,  especially  when  military 
power  was  brought  to  bear  to  effect  it.  So  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  South  lost,  perhaps,  one-half  of  her  colored  mem- 
bers. They  joined  the  African  Methodist,  the  Zion  Methodist, 
and  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church;  many  did,  but  not  all. 
Many  of  the  more  intelligent  still  clung  to  their  old  church  rela- 
tions, and  often  at  great  risk  to  themselves.  Among  them  were 
Sandy  Kendall,  Lucius  Holsey,  David  Deas,  David  Bentley,  John 
Zorn,  ministers,  and  many  private  members.  A  conference  was 
organized  for  them.  The  property  of  the  Church  occupied  by 
them  was  transferred  to  them,  and  they  are  prosperous.  As 
strife  has  now  nearly  ceased,  we  trust  the  day  is  not  distant 
when  all  the  colored  people  will  form  a  compact  body  of  pious 
Methodists. 


BENEVOLENCE. 

The  early  days  of  Methodism  were  days  of  poverty  and  trial. 
The  early  Methodists  in  Georgia  were  most  of  them  poor,  and 
save  the  quarterly  collections  which  were  carried  to  conference, 
there  was  no  appeal  to  them  for  any  kind  of  pecuniary  con- 
tributions. There  was,  as  yet,  no  provision  made  for  worn-out 
preachers,  or  for  their  widows  or  orphans.  The  first  society  or- 
ganized for  this  purpose  in  the  South  Carolina  Conference  was, 
as  we  have  seen,  organized  in  Sparta,  in  the  December  of  1806. 
It  was  called  the  Society  for  Special  Relief;  the  funds  collected 


394  History  of 

were  distributed  among  needy  traveling  and  local  preachers  and 
their  families ;  and  the  first  contribution  made  by  it,  was  to  Isaac 
Smith,  when  his  house  was  burned  in  Camden.  Its  resources 
were  not  considerable.  It  received  now  and  then  a  bequest,  and 
Thomas  Grant  left  it,  on  his  death,  quite  a  quantity  of  wild  land 
in  the  then  western  counties  of  the  State,  and  at  least  three  thou- 
sand dollars  in  money.  Josiah  Flournoy  made  it  an  annual  con- 
tribution of  a  hundred  dollars,  and  Lewis  Myers  left  it  quite  a 
legacy.  This  society  still  exists,  and  at  every  conference  dis- 
tributes several  hundred  dollars  to  the  needy.  It  was  after  the 
Georgia  Conference  was  organized  that  an  effort  was  made  to 
provide  for  the  support  of  superannuated  preachers,  their  widows 
and  orphans,  by  a  general  collection.  This  conference  collection 
aimed  not  only  to  do  this,  but  to  supply  the  deficiency  in  the  allow- 
ance of  the  preachers.  The  funds  used  for  this  purpose  are  ap- 
propriated by  the  Finance  Board  to  all  claimants,  annually;  but, 
for  some  years  past,  effective  preachers  have  had  no  claim  upon 
it,  and  it  is  distributed  among  the  worn-out  preachers  and  their 
families  alone. 

In  1838,  Silas  Griffin  left  nearly  $4,000,  the  interest  of  which 
was  to  be  added  to  this  collection;  and  in  1836,  a  society  was 
incorporated  to  hold  this  and  other  funds  for  the  same  purpose. 
It,  too,  was  called  the  Relief  Society ;  but  the  similarity  of  names 
between  it  and  the  Society  of  Special  Relief,  led  to  a  change  of 
name,  and  it  is  now  known  as  the  Preachers'  Aid  Society.  A 
sum  of  nearly  $3,000  was  paid  to  the  Georgia  Conference  for 
her  interest  in  the  Book-room  in  Charleston,  which  was  added 
to  this  bequest  of  Griffin.  The  charter  forbade  more  than  6 
per  cent,  to  be  paid  out  annually,  and  the  remainder  was  to  be 
added  to  the  principal.  In  the  course  of  thirty  years,  the  original 
property  of  the  conference  in  the  fund  was  doubled;  but  losses 
from  bankruptcy,  and  especially  from  collecting  its  funds  in 
Confederate  money,  reduced  its  assets  to  about  one-half.  This 
society  still  exists  and  receives  much  less  attention  than  its  merit 
deserves. 

Another  society  has  been  recently  organized  among  the  preach- 
ers and  laymen,  to  provide  homes  for  the  widows  and  orphans 
of  preachers.  It  has  no  vested  funds,  and  collects  a  mortuary 
fee,  on  the  death  of  each  member,  from  the  remaining  ones ; 
preachers  only  beneficiaries.  The  clerical  members  pay  two  dol- 
lars the  lay  members  one.    It  has  already  done  much  good. 

Through  the  exertions  of  Dr.  Jesse  Boring,  a  home,  both  in 
North  and  South  Georgia,  was  established  for  orphans.  The  North 


Georgia  Methodism.  395 

Georgia  home  is  near  Decatur,  the  South  Georgia  near  Macon. 
The  prospects  for  each  are  bright,  and  each  will  become  a  place 
of  refuge  for  the  orphans  of  all  the  Methodists  in  the  States,  in 
time  to  come.  The  missionary  collections  we  have  already  noted 
under  their  proper  head.  We  have  now  fulfilled  our  design  in 
tracing  the  history  of  Methodism  in  Georgia,  from  its  beginning, 
in  1786,  to  the  division  of  the  Georgia  Conference,  in  1866. 

If  Georgia  civilization  is  a  failure;  if  there  is  gross  corruption 
in  her  public  men;  if  there  are  grievous  heresies  over  the  land;  if 
life  and  liberty  and  property  are  imperiled;  if  education  and  the 
finer  features  of  life  are  neglected,  Methodism  is  largely  respon- 
sible for  it.  The  Baptists  and  Methodists  have  moved  side  by 
side  in  the  onward  march  of  the  white  settlers  into  the  wilds  of 
Georgia.  They  have  alike  aimed  to  preach  a  pure  Gospel,  and 
a  like  success  has  attended  them;  and  the  influence  they  have 
exerted  upon  Georgia  civilization  has  been  immense.  This  in- 
fluence is  seen  in  the  colleges,  the  churches,  the  orthodox  evangeli- 
cal Christianity,  and  the  law  and  order  of  the  Georgia  people. 
When  they  began  their  work,  there  was  rampant  infidelity  in 
high  places,  and  almost  total  religious  darkness  in  the  low ;  but 
they  were  peculiarly  fitted  for  the  work  of  evangelizing,  and 
they  have  gone  on  together.  As  fair  historians  of  religious 
events,  while  we  tell  the  story  of  our  own  church;  while  we 
tell  of  Ivy,  Humphries,  Major,  Lee,  Hull,  Pierce,  Olin,  Few,  we 
can  not  pass  over  Silas  Mercer,  the  Marshalls,  Bottsford,  Hol- 
comb,  Screven,  Jesse  Mercer,  King,  Milner  and  Dawson. 

These  were  true  men  of  God,  who  preached  repentance  towards 
God,  and  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  had  no  fellowship 
with  unrighteousness.  The  annals  of  the  Baptist  church  in 
Georgia  are  rich  in  stories  of  self-denying  Christian  effort.  The 
Presbyterian  church  is,  perhaps,  from  its  economy,  better  suited 
to  the  thickly  peopled  country  than  one  which  has  its  population 
to  gather;  but  Cummings,  Doak,  Wilson,  Waddell,  and  many 
others,  have  been  earnest  workers,  side  by  side,  and  nearly  al- 
ways in  harmony  with  their  Methodist  brethren.  For  nearly 
one  hundred  years  Georgia  Methodism  has  been  an  almost  un- 
broken harmony.  Save  a  few  small  secessions  from  it,  there 
has  been  no  strife  in  its  borders;  and,  even  in  these  secessions, 
the  doctrines  of  Methodism  have  been  preserved,  and  only  some 
features  of  her  polity  have  been  given  up. 

The  same  doctrines  have  been  preached  which  Wesley  preach- 
ed.   The  same  church-government  which  Asbury  directed  is  con- 


396  History  of 

trolling  now,  save  as  it  has  been  modified;  and  the  same  simple 
usages  in  worship  which  belonged  to  our  fathers  belong  to  us. 

Some  changes  have  passed  over  the  Church,  but  they  have 
been  often  more  changes  in  the  names  of  things  than  in  the  things 
themselves.  The  class-meeting  has  given  way  to  the  social 
prayer-meetings ;  the  old  quarterly  conference  to  the  district  con- 
ference. 

The  rigid  rules  on  dress  are  no  longer  in  force.  These  are 
some  of  the  changes  which  have  passed  over  the  Church. 

The  district  conference  has  more  than  supplied  the  place  the 
largely  attended  quarterly  meeting  left  vacant.  Pastoral  care  has 
done  much  to  supply  the  lack  of  class-meetings.  The  Sunday- 
school  has  become  a  potent  instrument  of  good,  and  religious 
newspapers  come  in  as  an  assistant  of  great  value  to  the  pastor. 

The  support  of  the  ministry,  and  of  all  the  institutions  of  the 
Church,  is  far  beyond  that  accorded  in  the  first  and  second  eras 
of  the  Church. 

Prone  as  we  are  to  magnify  the  past,  at  the  expense  of  the 
present,  we  can  not  study  the  story  of  our  past  years  without 
feeling  that  the  aggregate  of  good  now  goes  beyond  that  of  any 
equal  period  in  past  years. 

There  is  as  much  heroism  in  the  ministry,  as  much  self  sacri- 
fice in  the  laity  as  a  mass,  as  there  has  been  in  days  gone  by. 
Revivals  of  religion  are  more  frequent,  and  religious  declensions 
are  less  so.  The  Church  for  the  last  fifty  years  has  known  no 
such  period  as  that  between  1810  and  1823.  The  ministry  and 
the  people  are  better  educated,  and  piety  is  not  less  sincere,  though 
it  may  be  somewhat  less  demonstrative.  The  civilization  of  Geor- 
gia is  of  a  higher  order ;  there  are  no  such  gross  revelries  now  as 
were  known  then  on  muster-days ;  no  such  open  immorality  and 
infidelity  tolerated  among  public  men.  No  regular  prize-fights, 
with  their  disgusting  attendants.  Josiah  Flournoy  nearly  lost 
his  life  because  he  strove  to  persuade  the  State  to  establish 
a  prohibitory  liquor  law ;  but  now  the  whole  State  is  under  a  pro- 
hibitory liquor  law.  While  Georgia  is  not  a  pure  State,  no  regu- 
larly elected  legislature  was  ever  known  to  be  bribed;  and  while 
she  has  many  criminals,  the  number  of  white  convicts  is  far  be- 
low that  of  many  of  the  older  American  States. 

A  church  which  numbers  nearly  two  hundred  thousand  white 
communicants,  and  as  many  colored ;  which  reaches  with  its  in- 
fluence at  least  half  the  people  of  a  State,  so  powerful  as  that  of 
Georgia,  has  certainly  a  responsibility  resting  upon  her,  immense 
in  its  magnitude,  and  we  who  have  entered  into  the  labor  of  our 


Georgia  Methodism.  397 

fathers,  have  learned  from  these  pages  how  these  responsibilities 
should  be  met. 

We  now  somewhat  reluctantly  lay  down  our  pen. 

To  no  one  is  this  work  less  satisfying  than  to  him  who  has 
written  it.  He  only  asks  the  reader,  with  whom  he  now  parts, 
to  believe  that  he  has  labored  earnestly  to  tell  the  true  story  of 
Methodism  in   Georgia  and   Florida. 

SUPPLEMENTAL  WORD. 

General  Conference  had  met  in  New  Orleans  the  May  before 
the  Division  of  the  Georgia  Conferences  in  December,  and  had 
made  the  most  sweeping  changes  in  the  economy  and  usages  of 
the  church.  The  M.  E.  church  had  sent  its  emissaries  to  the 
South  to  disintegrate  and  absorb.  Some  of  the  most  trusted  of  the 
preachers  itinerant  and  local  had  left  the  connection,  and  there 
was  in  the  point  of  money  an  utterly  hopeless  future  before  us. 
The  great  body  of  colored  people  had  deserted  the  church  and 
gone  to  the  A.  M.  E.  and  M.  E.  churches.  Our  church  buildings 
were  many  of  them  dilapidated,  boards  of  stewards  were  dis- 
organized, and  it  required  boundless  faith  in  God  and  devotion 
to  his  service  to  keep  the  ship  steady  in  the  storm. 

The  winds  lulled ;  the  waves  ceased  to  roll,  and  the  staunch 
ship  kept  on  her  way.  Of  many  of  these  faithful  ones  who  staid 
on  her  deck  and  fought  the  storm  I  have  already  written,  for 
they  had  passed  away  when  the  first  edition  of  the  book  went 
to  the  press.  Of  those  who  belonged  to  the  conference  of  1866, 
few  are  on  the  conference  roll,  and  only  one,  Dr.  John  B.  McGhee, 
stationed  in  Oglethorpe,  is  in  the  active  ranks.  In  this  supple- 
mental chapter,  I  shall  cease  to  be  annalistical  and  try  to  sketch 
the  forty-five  years  gone  by  in  a  panoramic  way,  and  look  at  the 
church  of  these  years  as  its  various  phases  appear. 

Methodism  up  to  1866  had  been  intensely  conservative.  The 
same  Methodism  with  very  slight  modifications,  which  had  been 
found  in  Asbury's  time,  and  before  in  England,  in  Wesley's  day, 
was  in  Georgia.  Indeed,  it  was  far  more  Wesleyan  in  govern- 
ment, than  it  was  in  England  years  after  Wesley's  death.  There 
had  been  very  great  dissatisfaction  for  years  on  the  part  of  many 
of  the  younger  men,  with  some  features  of  this  government. 
After  1824,  when  there  was  the  great  secession,  and  the  Metho- 
dist Protestant  church  had  been  organized,  there  had  been  a 
secession  in  New  England,  out  of  which  came  the  Wesleyan 
Methodist  church,  because  slavery  was  allowed,  and  the  opposi- 


398  History  of 

tion  to  slavery  brought  about  the  great  division  in  1844,  when 
the  M.  E.  Church,  South,  was  organized.  Up  to  the  year  1866, 
however,  there  had  been  no  division  in  the  M.  E.  Church,  South, 
and  no  considerable  modification  of  any  of  the  old  Asburyan 
methods  of  work.  The  innovating  party  existed,  but  it  had  small 
following.  This  following,  however  small  in  numbers,  was  de- 
cidedly an  able  one,  led  by  some  of  the  strongest  men  of  the 
church.  At  the  head  of  this  movement  was  doctor,  afterwards 
Bishop  McTyiere,  Dr.  E.  H.  Myers,  Dr.  J.  E.  Edwards,  Dr.  Leroy 
M.  Lee,  Dr.  O.  P.  Fitzgerald,  afterwards  Bishop;  Dr.  Wight- 
man,  afterwards  Bishop,  and  many  others.  It  was  overwhelmingly 
in  the  majority.  The  opposition  party  consisted  of  the  old-time 
conservatives.  It  was  soon  evident  that  the  progressives  were  in 
control  of  the  Conference,  and  they  made  short  work  of  the 
transformation  of  the  Government.  The  probation  of  candidates 
for  six  months  was  changed  to  an  indefinite  period,  to  be  longer 
or  shorter  according  to  the  will  of  the  preacher  in  charge.  The 
attendance  on  class  meetings,  as  a  condition  of  membership,  was 
abolished.  The  introduction  of  laymen  into  the  Annual  and  Gen- 
eral Conferences  was  provided  for ;  the  extension  of  the  pastoral 
terms  from  two  to  four  years,  and  a  provision  for  sweeping 
changes  in  the  Discipline  by  a  general  revision  which  was  made 
at  the  next  General  Conference,  were  all  provided  for.  This 
wholesale  revision  made  in  Memphis  brought  in  the  District  and 
Church  Conferences,  and  removed  from  the  discipline  many  of 
those  sections  concerning  dress  and  ministerial  conduct  upon 
which  Mr.  Wesley  and  the  old  Asburyans  had  laid  much  stress. 
These  changes  were  much  more  sweeping  in  their  effect  than 
their  most  sanguine  friends  expected,  and  during  the  time  under 
review  they  worked  almost  a  revolution.  The  laymen  began  to 
assert  themselves  very  vigorously,  and  many  of  the  preachers 
were  in  full  sympathy  with  them.  They  attended  the  Annual 
Conferences,  took  great  interest  in  the  boards,  sought  many  inter- 
views with  the  Bishops,  and  sought  for,  or  protested  against,  the 
appointment  of  many  pastors.  There  ceased  to  be  any  probation 
at  all  in  receiving  members,  and  one  who  applied  for  membership 
was  received  into  full  connection  at  the  same  meeting.  The 
class  meetings,  largely  discontinued  during  the  war,  were  not 
resumed.  The  Presiding  Elders  ceased  to  hold  love  feasts ;  the 
laymen  largely  influenced  through  their  official  boards  the  ap- 
pointments of  preachers ;  the  sermons  on,  and  allusions  to  dress, 
so  frequent  in  the  early  days,  were  no  longer  heard.  Church 
discipline,  as  far  as  it  referred  to  the  individual  members,  was — 


Georgia  Methodism.  399 

except  in  cases  of  flagrant  immorality — almost  entirely  neglected. 
During  this  period  the  District  Conference  began  its  legal  exist- 
ence, and  to  give  it  more  influence,  as  well  as  to  provide  for  the 
protection  of  the  church,  the  licensing  of  local  preachers  was 
removed  from  the  Quarterly  Conference  to  it,  and  the  demand 
was  made  for  an  educational  qualification  in  order  to  secure  a 
license  to  preach  in  local  spheres,  which  effectually  excluded 
many  of  the  applicants,  especially  in  the  rural  sections,  who  had 
hitherto  filled  the  ranks  of  these  lay  preachers.  The  introduc- 
tion of  musical  instruments  into  the  churches  became  almost  uni- 
versal during  this  time,  and  there  was  a  gradual  diminution  in 
the  number  of  camp  meetings.  The  districts,  while  much  dimin- 
ished in  geographical  area,  became  greatly  enlarged  in  the  number 
of  charges.  The  salaries  of  Presiding  Elders  and  preachers  were 
no  longer  mere  allowances — but  were  salaries,  and  were  much 
in  advance  of  what  they  had  been  in  the  days  before  the  war. 
The  large  circuits  disappeared,  and  small  stations  were  greatly 
multiplied.  At  this  time  (1912),  there  are  few  country  towns 
in  which  there  is  not  a  Methodist  preacher  who  occupies  the 
pulpit  every  Sunday,  and  there  are  few  sections  of  the  State 
where  there  is  not  a  Methodist  church  for  whites  and  one  for 
colored  people,  in  reach  of  any  of  the  people.  The  circuits  had 
been  so  reduced  in  size,  that  the  larger  number  had  only  four 
appointments  for  the  pastor,  who  generally  had  a  comfortable 
house  provided  as  a  parsonage.  The  poorer  sections  were  put 
into  mission  circuits,  and  the  pastor,  often  a  local  preacher,  was 
largely  supported  from  the  Missionary  Treasury.  During  this 
period  there  was  great  City  growth,  and  efforts  were  made  to 
plant  churches  and  support  missionaries  as  the  cities  advanced. 
The  colored  people  had,  in  a  large  degree,  forsaken  the  M.  E. 
church  South,  mainly  for  the  A.  M.  E.  church  controlled  by  col- 
ored people,  and  the  remnant  which  remained  had  been  set  apart, 
at  its  own  instance,  as  a  separate  body,  called  the  Colored  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  church.  They  have  always  been  on  the  best  of 
terms  with  their  white  brethren,  and  have  received  from  them 
not  only  all  the  church  property  they  held  for  their  colored 
members,  but  substantial  assistance  and  other  help,  when  it  was 
asked  for.  The  church  has  grown  steadily  with  every  year.  It 
has  been  harmonious,  and  has  very  earnestly  pressed  forward 
in  its  work.  Evangelically,  there  had  been  no  considerable  di- 
vergence from  the  Wesleyan  and  Asburyan  methods  and  teach- 
ings. As  a  rule,  the  doctrines  of  Wesley's  sermons  and  the  usages 
of  the  English  societies  received   from  tradition,  had  been  the 


400  History  of 

doctrines  and  discipline  of  the  Georgia  Methodists  up  to  1866, 
when  the  Conference  was  divided,  and  there  had  been  no  effort  in 
any  way  to  attack  the  doctrines  or  change  the  usages  of  the 
church.  The  preachers  were  all  required  to  study  Wesley's  ser- 
mons and  Watson's  Institutes,  to  use  the  standard  hymn  book, 
and  few  were  bold  enough  to  attempt  any  change.  The  revival 
meeting  was  expected  every  year  in  every  society,  and  in  a  large 
number  of  the  circuits  there  was  a  camp  meeting  and  in  some  of 
them  more  than  one,  and  a  great  awakening  and  a  time  of  re- 
freshing, was  expected  at  every  annual  gathering.  When  a 
preacher  in  charge  was  not  a  revivalist,  as  some  of  the  leading 
preachers  were  not,  he  generally  sought  among  his  brethren  for 
ministerial  aid.  The  professional  evangelist  came  to  Georgia 
from  the  North  after  the  division.  Dr.  Munhall  in  Augusta, 
Atlanta  and  Macon ;  Dr.  Graves  in  Atlanta,  and  a  little  later  Dr. 
Inskip  in  Augusta  and  Savannah,  were  all  Northern  evangelists. 
These  were  followed  by  sundry  Georgians  who  became  noted  for 
their  success  in  holding  revival  meetings.  The  chief  among 
them  was  Samuel  P.  Jones,  known  universally  as  "Sam"  Jones. 
He  had  been  a  Georgia  circuit  preacher,  and  then  agent  for  the 
Orphan's  Home.  He  had  remarkable  ability  and  wonderful 
success,  and  was  in  constant  demand  and  high  favor  in  not  only 
Georgia,  but  throughout  the  country.  Others  followed  in  his 
wake,  some  local  preachers  and  some  itinerants,  who  located 
that  they  might  give  themselves  to  revival  work.  The  church 
authorities  for  some  time  regarded  this  specific  evangelism  with 
disfavor,  but  the  clamor  for  it  was  so  loud  that  the  General  Con- 
ference in  Birmingham,  in  1906,  made  provision  for  it.  The 
evangelist,  however,  did  his  work  mainly  in  towns  and  cities, 
while  the  preachers  on  circuits  and  missions  relied  only  on  them- 
selves and  their  near-by  helpers,  with  the  some-time  help  of  the 
Presiding  Elder,  and  of  the  camp  meeting,  which  was  still  popular 
in  many  of  the  circuits.  The  attention  paid  to  the  children  led 
to  the  admission  to  the  communion  of  a  great  many  who  were 
very  young,  and  the  church  very  greatly  increased  its  membership 
from  the  Sunday  schools.  There  was  constant  progress,  as  far 
as  membership  was  concerned,  and  constant  advance  in  visible 
directions.  The  probation  system  gave  the  preacher  in  charge 
great  liberty  in  his  church  roll.  He  had  merely  to  drop  the  de- 
fective applicant,  and  one  purpose  of  its  abolition  was  to  avoid 
this,  and  make  admission  to  the  church  more  difficult,  and  mem- 
bership more  stable ;  but  the  result  was  that  people  were  taken 
into  the  church  more  hastily,  and  as  there  was  no  expulsion,  the 


Georgia  Methodism.  401 

Methodist  church  rolls,  as  those  of  other  churches,  were  larger 
in  appearance  than  they  were  in  fact. 

The  Holiness  movement,  as  it  was  called,  had  a  great  revival 
during  this  period.  In  an  earlier  part  of  this  history  it  has  been 
seen  that  about  1846  there  was  a  considerable  move,  especially 
among  College  professors  and  prominent  preachers  in  which  the 
views  of  Mrs.  Palmer  of  New  York,  which  were  earnestly  advo- 
cated by  Prof.  Upham,  Dr.  Geo.  and  Dr.  Jesse  Peck,  Dr.  Caldwell, 
Dr.  Bangs  were  very  popular  and  were  quietly,  but  zealously 
stressd.  This  was  the  Wesleyan  and  the  mystical  and  Catholic  doc- 
trine of  Christian  Perfection  modified.  It  was  called  by  Mrs.  Palm- 
er, "The  Shorter  Way."  It  made  what  the  Catholics  aimed  to  se- 
cure by  fastings  and  meditations,  and  attendance  on  the  mass 
and  confessional,  and  secured  by  much  labor  and  much  suffering 
possible  by  simply  an  entire  consecration  and  reliance  on  God's 
word.  Many  became  advocates  of  this  "Shorter  Way,"  but  after 
some  years  there  was  but  little  stress  laid  on  it.  About  1867,  there 
was  a  great  revival  of  interest  in  it  in  the  North,  and  the  Rev. 
George  Kramer,  who  had  come  to  Georgia  during  the  war,  from 
Maryland,  went  back  to  Maryland,  and  after  a  year  there  re- 
turned to  Georgia,  a  warm  advocate  of  Mrs.  Palmer's  views,  and 
a  professor  of  the  experience.  Through  his  influence,  the  Rev. 
W.  A.  Dodge,  his  Presiding  Elder,  sought  for  and  secured  the 
experience  and  became  its  profound  propogandist.  The  Rev.  Mr. 
Inskip,  as  has  been  seen,  held  special  meetings,  and  conducted 
great  revivals  in  Savannah  and  Augusta,  stressing  much  this 
view,  and  many  of  the  Georgia  preachers  and  laymen  became  ad- 
vocates of  it.  A  Holiness  Association  was  formed,  and  eventu- 
ally a  Holiness  paper  was  published  by  Brothers  Dodge  and 
Patillo,  and  a  camp  ground  was  improved,  near  Indian  Springs, 
where  this  doctrine  was  to  be  the  chief  doctrine  stressed.  Much 
attention  was  directed  to  this  higher  life,  and  many  beautiful 
examples  of  its  power  were  visible.  In  the  meantime  the  church 
was  invaded  by  the  semi-rationalism  known  as  advanced  thought, 
and  some  of  the  most  gifted  of  the  preachers,  young  and  old,  were 
found  in  line  with  the  New  England  Liberals  and  German  ration- 
alists, but  they  were  not  many,  and  had  little  influence  outside 
of  a  small  circle  of  admirers  in  some  of  the  cities. 

The  Sunday  school  interest  made  great  progress  during  this 
period.  Before  the  division,  while  in  the  cities,  towns  and  vil- 
lages there  were  as  a  rule  Sunday  schools,  in  the  country  churches 
as  a  rule  there  were  none.  They  were  sometimes  found  in  the 
country  churches,  and  the  school  which  has  had  a  continuous 


402  History  of 

existence  longer  than  any  other  in  Georgia  was  in  a  good  section 
of  Lincoln  county.  It  was  organized  in  1819  and  has  never  been 
suspended.  As  a  general  thing  there  were  no  Sunday  schools 
in  the  country  during  the  winter  months.  When  young  Atticus 
Haygood,  afterward  Bishop,  was  on  the  Rome  District,  he  found 
the  reason  of  the  non-existence  of  winter  schools,  in  the  want  of 
stoves  in  the  churches.  He  urged  more  comfort  for  the  scholars 
and  a  longer  duration  for  the  schools.  He  became  greatly  in- 
terested in  Sunday  school  work,  and  when  he  was  elected  to  the 
General  Conference,  he  advocated  and  secured  the  appointment 
of  a  Sunday  School  Secretary  for  the  church,  and  the  adoption  of 
the  Uniform  System  of  Lessons,  and  the  General  Conference 
selected  him  as  its  first  Sunday  School  Secretary.  Much  interest 
was  aroused  in  this  matter,  and  before  191 1  the  old  rule  was  re- 
versed. The  Sunday  school  was  almost  as  universal  as  the 
church,  and  with  the  great  improvement  in  methods  it  has  become 
much  more  efficient.  In  the  cities  there  has  been  great  advance 
in  Sunday  school  work.  Special  arrangements  have  been  made 
in  many  of  them  for  convenience  of  teachers,  and  the  provision 
for  effective  work  is  all  that  could  be  desired.  In  the  matter  of 
church  architecture,  there  has  been  great  improvement  in  the  last 
fifty  years.  In  the  cities,  the  churches  which  were  at  first  mere 
barns,  have  been  replaced  by  elegant  edifices,  and  in  the  towns 
and  villages  they  are  generally  very  attractive  houses  of  worship. 
The  educational  interests  of  the  church  have  greatly  advanced. 
When  the  war  was  over,  Emory  College,  the  only  male  school, 
was  in  a  sadly  enfeebled  condition.  The  endowment  was  gone; 
the  buildings  were  dilapidated ;  the  faculty  scattered,  and  there 
was  apparently  no  hope  for  any  speedy  change.  But  there  were 
a  few  of  the  professors  who  had  not  lost  all  hope,  and  the  Board 
of  Trustees  were  not  willing  to  make  no  effort.  Bishop  Pierce 
was  intensely  concerned,  and  formed  an  Endowment  Association, 
the  members  of  which  promised  a  payment  of  twenty  dollars  a 
year  for  running  expenses,  and  he  called  to  his  aid  those  who 
were  willing  to  give  larger  sums  for  repairing  and  rebuilding. 
Professor  Luther  M.  Smith,  Professor  Stone  and  Professor 
Hopkins,  of  the  old  faculty,  consented  to  risk  getting  a  living  out 
of  the  receipts  and  from  their  own  resources,  and  the  college 
began  work  again.  It  had  a  trying  time  for  some  years,  but  its 
graduates  stood  bravely  by  it,  and  with  the  coming  of  Dr.  Hay- 
good  from  Nashville,  and  the  great  improvement  of  conditions 
in  the  State,  there  came  a  new  hope  into  the  hearts  of  the  people. 
Then,  to  the   surprise   of  the  people,   Mr.   George   I.    Seney,  a 


^nss 

rev.  sam  p.  jones. 


REV.  J.   W.   LEE,  D.D. 


Georgia  Methodism.  405 

banker  in  the  North,  volunteered  a  gift  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars  for  a  new  building  and  an  endowment.  Other 
large  gifts  for  buildings  and  endowment  came,  and  the  college 
has  now  secured  a  respectable  endowment  and  has  an  admirable 
collection  of  buildings,  a  strong  faculty,  and  a  large  patronage 
The  Wesleyan  Female  College  was  in  better  condition,  and  rallied 
sooner  than  Emory,  and  coming  in  for  a  share  of  Mr.  Seney  s 
bounty,  it  was  remodeled,  and  greatly  improved,  and  has  a  small, 
but  growing  endowment. 

The  LaGrange  Female  College,  which  was  as  sadly  wrecked 
by  the  war,  gradually  rose  from  its  prostration,  and  with  the 
crenerous  aid  of  its  friends,  and  the  admirable  management  of  its 
officers,  chief  among  whom  has  been  its  now  venerable  president, 
R.   W.'  Smith,  has  become  the  leading  institution  of   Western 

Georgia.  ■  £  r*  '      •       * 

The  Andrew  Female  College,  in  the  southwest  ot  Georgia,  at 
Cuthbert,  has  after  a  very  brave  fight  secured  for  itself  a  hand- 
some equipment  and  a  large  patronage. 

The  need  of  the  mountain  people  for  a  college  within  their 
reach,  led  to  the  establishment  of  the  Young  Harris  College,  in 
a  secluded  mountain  valley.  Originating  with  a  young  mission- 
ary Rev.  Artemas  Lester,  it  was  fostered  by  Rev.  A.  C.  Thomas 
the' Presiding  Elder  of  the  District,  who  succeeded  in  enlisting 
the  support  of  the  Hon.  Young  Harris,  a  wealthy  man  of  Athens, 
who  not  only  aided  it  while  living,  but  endowed  it  when  he  died ; 
so  it  has  become  firmly  established,  and  has  done,  and  is  doing, 
a  most  valuable  service.  The  people  of  McRae,  in  the  wire  grass 
country,  and  the  country  about,  have  established  a  most  valuable 
secondary  college,  answering  to  Young  Harris  in  the  mountains, 
and  it  has  become  a  power  for  good  in  the  wire  grass  section. 

There  was  great  improvement  in  the  financial  management  of 
church  affairs  after  1866.  The  church,  up  to  that  time,  had  been 
sadly  neglectful  at  this  point.  The  salaries  of  the  preachers 
were  in  many  cases  still  known  as  allowances,  and  they  were 
shamefully  small ;  but  after  this  time  there  was  a  steady  advance. 
The  very  great  losses  brought  about  by  the  ravages  of  the  war, 
instead  of  decreasing  the  liberality  of  the  church,  really  advanced 
it,  and  with  the  coming  of  the  laymen  into  the  church  councils 
there  was  a  great  forward  movement.  The  salaries,  which  in  the 
beginning  of  this  history,  had  been  mere  pitiful  allowances  oi 
less  than  a  hundred  dollars,  were  on  most  of  the  charges  in- 
creased to  an  amount  sufficient  for  the  respectable  support  of  a 
moderate-sized   family.     Comfortable   houses  were   supplied   as 


406  History  of 

parsonages,  and  attentive  Stewards  and  Ladies'  Aid  Societies 
were  found  in  nearly  all  the  stations  and  many  of  the  circuits. 
The  people  were  trained  to  give  and  pay,  and  the  finances  in  every 
direction  improved.  In  missionary  matters,  everything  had 
reached  the  lowest  depression  at  the  end  of  the  war  and  at  the 
division  of  the  conference ;  but  there  was  a  great  advance,  largely 
under  the  leadership  of  Dr.  Haygood  and  Dr.  Potter  in  the  North 
Georgia,  and  Dr.  Key  and  Dr.  Clark  in  the  South  Georgia.  The 
Domestic  Mission  work  in  the  mountains,  and  in  the  wire  grass, 
called  for  large  appropriations,  which  were  increased  from  year 
to  year,  until  in  the  most  obscure  sections  there  was  a  Methodist 
missionary. 

The  City  Mission  work  was  found  in  all  the  cities,  sometimes 
done  by  rendering  aid  to  small  churches,  sometimes  by  having 
a  special  missionary.  These  city  mission  churches  generally  in 
a  few  years  became  self-supporting,  but  the  churches  in  the 
weaker  circuits  did  not  grow  so  rapidly,  and  churches  that  fifty 
years  before  were  mission  churches,  were  to  some  degree  such  in 
191 1.  The  benevolences  of  the  church  were  many  of  them 
greatly  improved  during  this  period.  Through  the  influence  of 
Dr.  Boring,  the  Orphan  Home  had  been  adopted  by  almost  all 
the  Conferences,  and  Georgia  had  two  homes,  one  in  Decatur  and 
one  in  Macon,  both  of  which  have  been  very  successful  in  doing 
the  work  for  which  they  were  established. 

The  support  of  the  retired  preachers  has  been  much  improved 
in  both  conferences,  and  while  it  is  still  far  below  what  it  ought 
to  be,  it  is  far  beyond  what  it  has  been  in  the  history  of  the  church. 

At  the  end  of  the  war,  the  Southern  Christian  Advocate  ceased 
to  be  published;  but  Messrs.  J.  W.  Burke  &  Co.  resumed  its 
publication  in  Macon.  The  South  Carolina  Conference  became 
anxious  to  have  the  paper  transferred  to  Charleston,  from  whence 
it  had  been  removed,  and  the  Georgia  Conference  consented  and 
established  the  Wesleyan  Christian  Advocate,  which  is  still  pub- 
lished. 

The  Quarterly  Review  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church, 
South,  having  been  suspended  from  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
Dr.  J.  W.  Hinton,  of  the  South  Georgia  Conference,  at  his  own 
expense,  published  it  again  under  the  auspices  of  the  General 
Conference,  and  continued  its  publication  until  the  church  felt 
able  to  take  it  in  charge  again.  Before  the  division  in  1866, 
Georgia  had  furnished  James  O.  Andrew  and  George  F.  Pierce  as 
Bishops,  and  after  the  division,  Atticus  G.  Haygood  and  Warren 
A.  Candler  were  chosen  from  the  North  Georgia,  and  Joseph  S. 


Georgia  Methodism.  407 

Key  from  the  South  Georgia.  She  had  also  given  Dr.  W.  P. 
Harrison  as  editor  of  the  Review ;  Dr.  Haygood  as  Sunday  school 
secretary,  and  Dr.  Edward  F.  Cook  as  Secretary  of  the  Board 
of  Missions.  Among  her  most  valuable  gifts  to  the  church  were 
those  whom  she  furnished  to  the  Mission  boards.  Of  Dr.  Allen, 
the  veteran  missionary  to  China,  we  have  already  had  account. 
David  L.  Anderson  followed  him  in  the  same  field,  and  died  in 
19 1 2.  He  was  a  noble,  gifted  man  who  had  done  valuable  work 
in  Georgia  before  going  to  China.  Robert  W.  McDonnell  had 
given  his  life  to  Mexico.  Cuba  had  drawn  largely  upon  Georgia 
for  her  corps  of  missionaries.  There  were  none  of  the  Southern 
and  Southwestern  Conferences  which  had  not  been  recruited 
from  Georgia  and  she  was  among  the  first  to  furnish  mission- 
aries to  the  Pacific  Coast.  Texas,  in  her  time  of  need,  Arkansas 
and  the  Indian  Territory  were  especially  indebted  to  Georgia  for 
preachers  who  had  fixed  their  homes  in  this  far  west.  The  list 
of  those  in  both  Conferences  which  is  here  appended  is  a  large 
one.  Of  many  of  those  who  joined  the  Conferences  before  the 
division  this  history  has  already  spoken,  of  some  of  these  the 
records  published  gives  a  few  facts,  leaving  it  to  a  future  historian 
to  give  fuller  sketches. 

The  history  of  the  years  between  1866  and  191 1  is  full  of  in- 
terest, but  it  is  not  within  the  power  of  the  writer  of  this  volume 
to  do  it  justice.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  article  is  but  intro- 
ductory to  a  fuller  account. 

Georgia  has  undergone  great  changes,  and  in  many  respects 
has  made  great  advancement  in  these  since  the  war,  which  ended 
just  before  the  division  of  the  Conference  was  made.  Great 
Cities  have  taken  the  places  of  what  were  at  that  time  only  large 
towns,  and  the  towns  have  grown  into  cities.  Railroads  have 
penetrated  all  parts  of  the  State.  Factories  have  been  established. 
Where  one  bale  of  cotton  or  one  bushel  of  corn  was  made,  two 
bales  of  cotton  and  two  bushels  of  corn  have  been  made  in  the 
same  area.  The  barrens,  as  the  wire  grass  country  was  called, 
have  been  turned  largely  into  most  beautiful  farms,  and  where  at 
the  end  of  the  war  there  was  an  unbroken  pine  forest,  there 
are  flourishing  young  cities.  Largely  through  the  influence  of  the 
Methodist  and  Baptist  churches,  the  State  has  become  a  Prohibi- 
tion State,  and  the  cross-roads  drinking  shop  that  was  once 
Georgia's  bane  has  disappeared.  Where  there  was  once  a  distil- 
lery near  every  spring  branch  among  Georgia's  beautiful  moun- 
tain country,  when  the  grain  of  the  valleys  was  turned  into 
strong  drink,  through  the  strong  arm  of  the  State  and  the  moral 


408  History  of 

influence  of  the  churches,  there  are  now  no  open  distilleries, 
and  there  are  free  schools,  attractive  little  churches  and  regular 
preaching. 

Much  has  come  in  the  new  Georgia  which  is  sadly  to  be  de- 
plored. The  negro,  who  was  never  a  drunkard  and  rarely  a 
criminal  before  the  war,  has  been  turned  into  the  wildest  savage 
by  fiery  liquor,  largely  furnished  him  by  his  own  race  and  by  de- 
graded and  despicable  foreigners.  He  has,  fired  with  drink,  done 
acts  of  fearful  atrocity,  to  meet  a  punishment  unheard  of  among 
Anglo  Saxons  for  ages.  But  these  crimes  and  this  punishment 
have  been  largely  exceptional. 

The  Methodist  and  Baptist  preachers  have  gone,  side  by  side, 
more  effective  and  more  harmonious  working  apart  than  if  they 
had  been  in  one  camp,  and  much  has  been  done.  The  tide  of 
emigration  from  our  poorer  hills  and  mountains  which  went  west, 
has  been  turned  to  our  Southern  pine  woods,  or  to  our  cities. 
The  people  of  our  mountains  and  pine  woods  have  established 
schools  and  colleges,  and  our  negroes  have,  in  many  cases,  de- 
veloped into  good  farmers,  prosperous  merchants,  good  teachers 
and  earnest  preachers. 

IMPROVEMENTS. 

The  foregoing  pages  have  given  an  account  of  the  first  church 
buildings,  and  of  those  of  the  second  era.  In  log  houses  most 
uncomely  and  uncomfortable,  the  preachers  found  places  to  preach 
after  they  left  the  private  dwellings,  also  of  logs.  Then  a  barn- 
like building  of  the  plainest  sort,  often  without  window  glass  or 
paint,  provided  for  long  years  a  place  of  worship.  The  people 
were  at  first  poor,  but  as  wealth  increased,  their  desire  for  some- 
thing better  in  the  way  of  a  church  building  did  not  grow.  Then 
there  came  another  era  in  which  the  barn-like  building  itself  gave 
way  and  a  church  building,  respectable  and  comfortable,  took 
its  place,  but  this  itself  was  left  behind  in  the  onward  march 
and  in  the  last  twenty  years  there  has  been  quite  a  spirit  of  im- 
provement in  this  direction.  We  have  already  seen  the  condi- 
tion of  things  in  the  city  of  Augusta.  Then  in  the  town  of 
Thomson,  near  the  city,  a  very  handsome  brick  church  has  been 
built  within  a  few  years.  Culverton,  near  where  Bishop  Pierce 
lived,  has  a  handsome  brick  church,  and  Sparta  a  church  in 
memory  of  Bishop  Pierce,  which  is  very  attractive.  Milledgeville, 
which  has  now  had  four  churches,  has  just  completed  a  handsome 
and  commodious  brick  church.     Monticello,  where  Thos.  Grant, 


Georgia  Methodism.  409 

the  leading  Methodist  layman  of  Georgia  died,  has  a  neat  brick 
church.  Oxford  has  a  very  handsome  church  building  as  a  mem- 
orial to  Dr.  Young  J.  Allen,  the  great  missionary.  Greensboro, 
where  Bishop  Pierce  spent  his  childhood,  has  an  attractive  brick 
church.  Washington  having  outgrown  the  comely,  but  too  small, 
church  which  was  the  second  in  its  history,  built  a  very  handsome 
edifice  recently.  Marietta  has  as  its  third  church  a  very  elegant 
and  convenient  building.  Cartersville,  where  Sam  Jones  lived  and 
where  he  died,  has  a  very  fine  memorial  church.  Rome  has  now  a 
comfortable  brick  church  as  its  first  church  and  a  very  good  build- 
ing as  its  second  church. 

Cedartown  has  not  only  a  neat  brick  church,  but  one  also  for 
its  factory  operatives. 

Elberton,  where  the  first  Methodist  preaching  was  done  in 
private  houses  by  Allen,  Humphries  and  Major,  has  a  very  hand- 
some brick  building. 

These  are  but  a  few  of  the  many  attractive  churches  in  the 
upper  part  of  the  state. 

In  lower  Georgia,  in  Waynesboro,  in  Columbus,  in  Savannah,  in 
Americus,  in  Dawson,  in  Valdosta,  in  Hawkinsville,  in  Thomas- 
ville,  Blakely,  Bainbridge,  Waycross,  there  are  handsome  and 
commodious  church  buildings.  There  are  comfortable  churches  in 
most  of  the  circuits  and  the  board  of  church  extension  is  con- 
tinually aiding  them  in  their  efforts  to  improve  the  physical  con- 
dition of  their  places  of  worship. 

The  Orphans'  Homes  of  both  conferences  are  equipped  with  a 
sufficiency  of  buildings  to  provide  facilities  for  the  work  they  are 
called  upon  to  do.  The  colleges  are  all  housed  in  attractive 
buildings. 

The  efforts  of  the  liberal  people  of  Atlanta  to  provide  a  memor- 
ial building  have  been  quite  successful,  and  the  Advocate  and  the 
Library  have  been  well  provided  for. 

The  desire  of  the  church  for  a  Methodist  Hospital  has  been 
met  by  the  establishment  of  one  in  connection  with  the  Wesley 
Memorial.  There  are  now  two  conferences  in  Georgia,  the  North 
and  South  Georgia,  who  work  in  harmony  with  each  other  and 
who  have  many  things  jointly.  The  Wesleyan  Christian  Advocate 
is  the  property  of  both,  having  as  editors  one  from  the  North  and 
one  from  the  South  Georgia  Conference.  They  have  joint  owner- 
ship in  the  Wesleyan  College  for  Women  and  in  Emory  College, 
and  while  these  pages  are  passing  through  the  press  a  purchase 
of  the  LaGrange  College  has  been  made  by  the  Wesleyan. 

Georgia  is  now  well  equipped  for  good  work. 


APPENDIX 


OFFICIAL  REGISTER  AND  DIRECTORY  OF   NORTH 
GEORGIA  CONFERENCE— 1912-13 

(E.  Elder;  D.  Deacon;   S'y  Supernumerary;   Sd.,  Superannuated). 

Enter-  Pre* 

Name                                                          Post  Office                           ed  Itin-  ent  Re- 

erancy  lation 

1  Adams,  J.  C Griffin 1906  E 

2  Allen,  B.  P Athens    1888  P.E. 

3  Allen,  J.  B Atlanta     1880  S'y 

4  Allen,  J.  R Newborn    1904  E 

5  Akin,  E.  K Atlanta     1863  S'd 

6  Allgood,  J.  L Waleska    1902  E 

7  Amack,  W.   L Buckhead    1912  E 

8  Atkinson,  J.   C Warrenton    1893  E 

9  Askew,  J.  S Ackert    1880  E 

10  Bailey,   J.    H Cumming     1900  E 

11  Bailey,  J.  W Jefferson    1888  E 

12  Balis,  J.  F Douglasville    1885  S'd 

13  Barrett,  G.  W Acworth    1899  E 

14  Barnett,  W.   M Gainesville    1912  D 

15  Bass,  C.   L Atlanta    1905  E 

16  Baum,  Firley    Norwood    1903  E 

17  Belk,  S.  R Atlanta    1884  E 

18  Bell,  W.  T Hepzibah  1879  E 

19  Benson,  W.  W Tignall     1908  E 

20  Bowden,  J.  M Tompson    1867  S'd 

21  Brand,  J.   O Rome    1899  E 

22  Branch,  C.  H Social  Circle 1883  E 

23  Branham,  Henry  F Covington    1891  E 

24  Branham,    W.    R Oxford    1870  E 

25  Branham,  W.   S Zebulon    E 

26  Branson,  T.J Watkinsville    1904  E 

27  Brinsfield,  W.  W Atlanta    1872  S'd 

28  Brinsfield,  J.  W Middleton    1912  D 

29  Browder,  L.  W Sharon  E 

30  Bryan,  J.  S Decatur    1871  E 

31  Bugg,  A.   H.   S Chipley 1891  E 

32  Butler,  W.  O Culverton    1873  E 

33  Caldwell,  W.  T Clarkston    1863  S'd 

34  Campbell,  R.  L Augusta  1876  E 

35  Cantrell,    A.    C Smyrna    1886  S'd 

36  Cantrell,  D.  B Stone  Mountain 1899  E 

37  Cantrell,  F.  D Gainesville    1881  E 

38  Cary,  C.  C Atlanta     1872  S'd 

39  Carmichael,  W.  P Nashville,  Tenn 1912  D 


Georgia  Methodism.  411 

Enter-  Pres- 
Name                                                             Post  Office                        ed  Itin-    ent  Re- 

erancy  lation 

40  Chastain,  G.  L Atlanta    1893  E 

41  Christian,  H.  C College  Park 1871  S'd 

42  Christian,  T.  J Elberton 1880  P.E. 

43  Clark,  W.  H Atlanta 1904  E 

44  Cleckler,  R.  C Elberton    1895  E 

45  Clements,  S.  D Woodbury   1867  S'd 

46  Collins,  L.  W Atlanta    1912  D 

47  Cooper,  W.  H Marietta    1894  P.E. 

48  Copeland,  J.  J Athens   D 

49  Cotter,  W.  J Newnan   1845  S'd 

50  Crawley,  W.  S Oxford    1892  E 

51  Crowe,  J.  M Princeton    1900  E 

52  Crumley,  H.  L Atlanta    1880  S'd 

53  Cunningham,  M.  D Dahlonega 1912 

54  Davis,  J.  F Watkinsville 1889  E 

55  Davis,  J.  G Turin    1912  D 

56  DeBardeleben,  W.  J Payetteville    1909  D 

57  Dempsey,  E.  F Milledgeville    1899  E 

58  Dickey,  J.  E Oxford    1891  E 

59  Dillard,  Walter  B Rome    1887  P.E. 

60  Dimon,  S.  H Milledgeville    1878  E 

61  Dixon,   R.   M Forsyth    1896  E 

62  Dowman,  C.  E Oxford    1873  E 

63  DuBose,  H.  M Atlanta    E 

64  Dunbar,    William    Winder    1880  E 

65  Duval,  G.  W Marietta    1875  E 

66  Eakes,  G.  M Atlanta    1897  E 

67  Eakes,  J.  H .Home 1884  P.E. 

68  Eakes,  J.  T Lawrenceville    1894  E 

69  Eakes,  R.  F Atlanta    1889  E 

70  Echols,  A.  D Augusta  1884  E 

71  Edmondson,  H.  L Newnan   1884  E 

72  Edmondson,  R.  A Carrollton   1894  E 

73  Edwards,  D.  M Visalia,  Cal 1888  S'd 

74  Elliot,  T.  M Griffin  1904  E 

75  Ellis   H.   J Atlanta 1867  S'd 

76  Elrod,  R.  F Danielsville    1908  E 

77  Embry,  H.  L Woodbury   1883  E 

78  Embry]  J.' S Atlanta    1871  S'd 

79  Emory,  H.  C Fairburn    1901  E 

80  England,  J.  E Hampton   1874  E 

81  England,  R.   B.  O Monticello 1877  E 

82  England,    S.   R Athens   1884  E 

83  England,  W.  R Flowery  Branch   1912  D 

84  Ernest,  Augustus Grays    1906  E 

85  Erwin,  J.  P Washington    1894  E 

86  Eubanks,  E.  P Rockmart    1912  E 

87  Evans,  O.  L Cave  Spring E 

88  Farr,  J.  H Shady  Dale    1900  E 

89  Farris,   W.   A College    Park    1868  S'd 

90  Foote,  W.  R Dalton    1873  E 


412  History  of 

Enter-  Pres- 

Xame                                                          Post  Office                           ed  Itin-  ent  Re- 

erancy  lation 

91  Fowler,  J.  M Thomson   1892  E 

92  Fox,  W.  C Alpharetta 1888  E 

93  Franklin,  J.  L Lincolnton    1912  D 

94  Fraser,  B.  F Atlanta    1885  E 

95  Gaines,  W.   S Buchanan    1897  E 

96  Gaines,  W.  W Atlanta 1897  E 

97  Gary,  G.  P Lexington    1896  E 

98  Gibson,  T.  H Decatur    1870  S'd 

99  Glenn,  W.   F Atlanta 1866  S'd 

100  Gober,  J.   W Whiteplains    1894  E 

101  Gray,  E.  A Nashville  S'd 

102  Greene,  B.  H Roswell    1888  E 

103  Green,  L.  H Milner    1879  E 

104  Gresham,  J.   B Marietta   1912  D 

105  Griner,   G.   W Augusta  1886  E 

106  Hale,  E.  D LaGrange    1903  E 

107  Hall,  J.  L Eatonton   1904  E 

108  Hamby,   W.    T Augusta   1881  P.E. 

109  Hamilton,  G.  W Fairmount 1908  E 

110  Hammond,  J.  D Augusta  1875  K 

111  Harris,   S.  A LaGrange    1892  E 

112  Harris,  W.  A Manchester 1893  E 

113  Hawkins,  J.  M Decatur    1899  E 

114  Hawkes,    Z.    V ....Duluth    1912  D 

115  Henderson,  Irby    Carnesville   1908  E 

116  Hendrix,    W.    R Atlanta E 

117  Hind,  A.  T Waleska    1912  D 

118  Holland,  J.  B Forsyth    1886  S'd 

119  Hopkins,  I.  S Atlanta 1861  S'd 

120  Huckaby,  L.  P Carrollton   1906  E 

121  Hudson,  F.   S East  Point 1882  E 

122  Hughes,  A.   J Acworth 1873  S'd 

123  Hughes,  C.  F Oxford    1905  E 

124  Hughlett,  A.  M Atlanta    1905  E 

125  Hunnicutt,  W.  T Cartersville    1890  E 

126  Hutchinson,  A.  S Lafayette    1901  E 

127  Irvine,  W.  T Cartersville 1885  P.E. 

128  Ivey,  C.  T Barnesville   1907  E 

129  Jamison,  C.  A Atlanta    1880  E 

130  Jarrell,  C.  C Athens   1897  E 

131  Jenkins,  F.  E Canton   1904  E 

132  Jenkins,  J.  S Atlanta    1891  E 

133  Johnson,   D.   P Chatsworth  1887  E 

134  Johnson,  L.  G Gainesville    1908  D 

135  Joiner,   H.   W Gainesville    1881  P.E. 

136  Jones,  C.  O Atlanta    1871  E 

137  Jones,  E.  W Jonesboro    1894  E 

138  Jones,  J.  R Atlanta  Heights   1892  E 

139  Jordan,  J.  R Clarksville    1911  E 

140  Kellett,   P.   A Washington    1900  E 

141  Kelly,  O.  L Conyers   1894  E 


Georgia  Methodism.  413 

Enter-  Pres- 

Name                                                             Post  Office                             ed  Itin-  ent  Re- 

erancy  lation 

142  Kendall,  Paul   Logansville E 

143  Kendall,  T.  R.,  Sr Gainesville    E 

144  Kendall,  T.  R.,  Jr Hartwell    1890  E 

145  Kendall,  W.  R Jenkinsburg    1890  E 

146  King,  G.  L Woodstock    1907  E 

147  King,  J.   R Griffin 1880  E 

148  King,   J.   W Lavonia   1903  E 

149  King,    Olin    Atlanta    1901  E 

150  King,  W.  P Monroe 1897  E 

151  Landrum,  L.  L Locust  Grove 1901  E 

152  Landford,  V.  E Norcross    1906  E 

153  La  Prade,  W.  H.,  Jr Sparta    1898  E 

154  Leake,  Sanford    East  Lake,  Tenn 1859  S'd 

155  Ledbetter,  S.  B Buford    1884  E 

156  Lewis,  J.  R Sparta    1891  S'd 

157  Lewis,    Walker    LaGrange    1874  E 

158  Linn,    L.    B Mansfield    1912  D 

159  Little,  J.  H Ringgold    1882  E 

160  Logan,  J.  G Covington    1895  E 

161  Lovejoy,  W.  P Atlanta    1871  P.E. 

162  Lovern,  I.  J Belton    1912 

163  Lowe,   J.   T Rome    S'd 

164  Mackay,  E.  G Calhoun  1908  E 

165  Mackay,  W.  R Greensboro  1903  E 

166  Magath,  Julius  Oxford    1883  E 

167  Maness,  Arthur   Ellijay    1907  E 

168  Marchman,  C.  P Atlanta    1884  E 

169  Marks,  E.  C 1885  S'd 

170  Martyn,  R.  P College  Park   1871  S'd 

171  Martin,    C.    S LaGrange    1909  D 

172  Mashburn,  F.  J Grantville    1891  E 

173  Mashburn,  J.  H Madison 1872  E 

174  Mays,  H.  B Atlanta 1893  E 

175  Maxwell,  W.  A Bowdon    1900  E 

176  Maxwell,  T.  H Lincolnton    1908  E 

177  McBrayer,  N.  E Winder 1877  S'd 

178  McElrath,  R.  J Bishop    E 

179  McMullan,  W.  O Trion    1909  D 

180  Melton,    W.    F Oxford    E 

181  Miller,  I.  H Atlanta    1888  E 

182  Millican,  Walter    Moreland 1899  E 

183  Milton,  J.  D Villa  Rica  1886  E 

184  Mize,  J.  J.  M Stilesboro    1912  E 

185  Mize,    B.    F Gracewood    1912  D 

186  Morris,  J.  V.  M Greensboro   1865  S'd 

187  Norton,  C.  A Devereux    E 

188  Nunn,  A.  F Rome    1893  E 

189  Pace,  H.  D Atlanta    1895  E 

190  Patridge,  J.  A Tallapoosa 1912  D 

191  Pattillo,  C.  L Decatur  1874  S'd 

192  Pattillo,  M.  K Ball  Ground  1904  E 


414  History  of 

Enter-  Pres- 

Name                                                             Post  Office                             ed  Itin-  ent  Re- 

erancy  lation 

193  Pattillo,   C.   E West  Point E 

194  Pierce,   A.    M Cedartown 1895  E 

195  Pierce,  W.  L LaGrange 1891  P.E. 

196  Ponder,    O.    M Palmetto    1912  D. 

197  Quillian,  A.  W Atlanta 1876  E 

198  Quillian,  Frank    Commerce 1899  E 

199  Quillian,  H.  M College  Park   1877  E 

200  Quillian,  J.  A Senoia    1894  E 

201  Quillian,  J.  Wiley  Oxford    1890  P.E. 

202  Read,  B.  P Griffin 1904  E 

203  Reynolds,  J.  A Conyers   1859  S'd 

204  Richardson,  J.  T Atlanta 1871  S'y 

205  Rivers,  L.   W Edgewood   1882  E 

206  Robins,    J.    B Atlanta    1877  E 

207  Robins,  J.  T Hogansville    1896  E 

208  Robinson,  W.   S Toccoa   1898  E 

209  Rogers,  R.  W Zebulon    1873  S'd 

210  Rogers,  Wallace Thomson   1895  E 

211  Roper,   Lucien    Dallas     1912  D 

212  Rorie,  J.  E Augusta  1873  E 

213  Russell,  J.  E Dalton    1890  E 

214  Rutland,  T.  L Powder  Springs    1907  E 

215  Sams,    M.    B Covington    1905  E 

21 6  Sanders,  A.  B McDonough    1896  E 

217  Sanders,  Brittian Stone  Mountain 1850  S'd 

218  Sansburn,   A.    E Eatonton    1898  E 

219  Sappington,  J.   S.   L Summerville 1885  E 

220  Scott,   A.   E Eatonton   1906  E 

221  Seaborn,   F.    R Stockbridge    1893  E 

222  Sears,   A.  J Winterville  1896  E 

223  Sewell,  J.   A Newnan   1886  E 

224  Sewell,  J.   M Rockmart    1885  S'd 

225  Sharp,  J.  A Young   Harris    1894  E 

226  Siler,  Frank   Augusta  1888  E 

227  Simmons,  O.  C East  Point 1876  S'd 

228  Simmons,  W.  A Royston   1892  E 

229  Singleton,  W.  L Cumming 1887  S'd 

230  Smith,  A.  M 1908  S'd 

231  Smith,  F.  R Mountville    1885  E 

232  Smith,  G.  G Macon    1857  S'd 

233  Smith,  H.  S Maysville 1905  E 

234  Smith,  Rembert  G Oxford    1902  E 

235  Sorrells,    G.    T Rutledge    1910  E 

236  Speck,  J.   R Atlanta    1884  S'd 

237  Speer,  J.   R Maysfield 1901  E 

238  Speer,  W.  H Austell   1873  E 

239  Speer,  Zedekiah  Cumming    1897  E 

240  Spence,    C.    C Demorest     1884  S'd 

241  Sprayberry,  A.   M Flovilla    S'y 

242  Sprayberry,  J.  A Flovilla    1897  E 

243  Stanton,   E.   M Ozona,  Fla 1883  E 


Georgia  Methodism.  415 

Enter-  Pres- 

Nime                                                             Post  Office                             ed  Itin-  ent  Re- 

erancy  lation 

244  Stipe,  J.  W College  Park 1868  S'd 

245  Stone,  G.  D Atlanta 1893  E 

246  Strickland,  J.  S Atlanta 1909  D 

247  Strozier,    H.    M Kingston    1886  E 

248  Sullivan,   A.   A Athens    1897  E 

249  Swift,  C.  A Dearing    E 

250  Swilling,  Marvin   Pendergrass   1908  E 

251  Tarpley,  W.   E Atlanta 1868  S'd 

252  Tatum,  R.  P Roopville     1912  D 

253  Thomasson,  E.  G Bowman    1904  E 

254  Thompson,  Nath   Tate     1896  E 

255  Tilley,  A.  A Sparta    1890  E 

256  Timmons,  T.   H Thomson   1869  S'd 

257  Timmerman,  J.  A Douglasville    .  .' 1880  E 

258  Tranime!l,  B.  H North  Rome  1887  E 

259  Tumlin,  J.    M Thomaston    1883  E 

260  Tumlin,  G.  W Bethlehem 1905  E 

261  Turner,  J.  D Hartwell    1892  E 

262  Twiggs,  L.   M Harlem     1904  E 

263  Underwood,  M.  L Atlanta    1872  E 

264  Venable,  G.  F Augusta  1900  E 

265  Verdel,   C.    M Augusta   1887  E 

266  Walraven,  M.   M Forsyth    1893  E 

267  Walton,    Fletcher    Griffin  1888  P.E. 

268  Ware,  E.  A Union    Point    1898  E 

269  Ware,  J.  Lane   LaGrange    1888  E 

270  Wasson,  S.  E Barnesville   E 

271  Watkins,  J.  W.  G College  Park    1873  S'd 

272  Weathers,  C.  V East  Atlanta   1881  E 

273  Wells,    W.    A Apalachee   1908  E 

274  Whitaker,   G.   R Grovetown    E 

275  Whitaker,  M.  B Hoschton     1909  D 

276  White,  Neal  A Culloden    1903  E 

277  Wiggins,  S.  P Augusta  1897  E 

278  Williams,  A.  W Tallapoosa    1866  S'd 

279  Williams,    Felton    Greenville   1903  E 

280  Williams,  Marvin    Lithonia    1909  D 

281  Williams,    M.    S Jackson    1887  E 

282  Winter,  J.  P Grantville    1877  S'd 

283  Winn,  W.  M Senoia    1869  S'd 

284  Wood,   E.    H College  Park    1875  S'd 

285  Woodruff,  W.  A Young  Harris 1909  D 

286  Yarbrough,  G.  W Jefferson    1857  S'd 

287  Yarbrough,  J.  F Jefferson   1899  E 


16 


History  of 


ON  TRIAL-FIRST  AND  SECOND  YEAR 

Ruggs,  R.  W Clayton    First  Year. 

Burgess,  W.  W Clayton    First  Year. 

Chambers,  G.  A Whites     First  Year. 

Culpepper,    W.    J Porterdale   First  Year 

Ellis,  John  E Cornelia    First  Year. 

Fraser,    G.    S Blue    Ridge    First  Year. 

Gantt,  W.   T Monticello First  Year. 

Green  way,   Wm Atlanta First  Year. 

Hall,  C.  A Chickamauga  First  Year. 

Hinesley,  Nelson  Resaca First  Year. 

Patterson,  D.  S Cleveland    First  Year. 

Purcell,  W.  E Dawsonville   First  Year. 

Reece,   C.   A First  Year 

Roark,  V.  A Greensboro First  Year. 

Thurman,  T.  E Thomaston  First  Year. 

Thompson,  J.  B Washington    First  Year. 

Wright,  L.  E Rome   First  Year. 

Hagan,  S.  L Homer   Second  Year. 

Hays,  C.  N Calhoun    Second  Year 

Hendrix,  H.  L Nashville,   Tenn Second  Year. 

Norton,    W.    S Devereaux   Second  Year 

Pettis,    J.    O Adairsville    Second  Year. 

Stephens,  J.  W Rabun  Gap Second  Year. 

Sullivan,    T.    M Comer    Second  Year. 

Turner,  J.  R Aragon    Second  Year. 

Watkins,  W.  W West  Point    Second  Year. 

Bray,  V.  L Nashville,    Tenn 

Pendley,  J.  T Cave  Spring   

Sorrell,  G.  T Rutledge    

Swift,  C.  A Dearing    

Wailes,  W.  L.  C Augusta    


LOCAL  PREACHERS  SERVING  AS  SUPPLIES 


Allday,  C.  A.,  Tunnell  Hill. 
Adams,  T.  R.,  Elberton. 
Austin,  J.  M.,  Toccoa. 
Bird,  H.  L,.,  Toccoa. 
Cliett,  R.  A.,  LaFayette. 
Cooper,  W.  A.,  Avalon. 
Chandler,  G.  T.,  New  Holland. 
Caldwell,  E.  A.,  Monroe. 
Cremean,  S.  D.,  Franklin. 
Conway,  A.  W.,  Cedartown. 
Cranshaw,  J.  W,  Lindale. 
Carden,  W.  T.,  Rome. 
Cook,  J.  M.,  Waco. 
Dillard,  J.   L. 
Franklin,  M.  A.,  Athens. 
Greene,  H.  O.,  Eton. 
Hardy,  J.  H.,  Emerson. 
Hughes,  J.  W.,  Loudsville. 
Harrison,  R.  T.,  Blairsville. 


Henderson,  C.  K.,  Rome. 
Jackson,  R.  P.,  Dacula. 
Jay,  N.  H.,  Whitesburg. 
Johnson,  R.  J.,  Holly  Spring. 
Ledford,  A.  C,  Belton. 
Lemaster,  Rufus,  Douglasville. 
Knowles,  Grover,  Rome. 
Middlebrooks,  C.  R.,  Decatur. 
McDerment,  O.  P.,  Milledgeville. 
Owens,  T.  J.,  Draketown. 
Parsons,  N.  A.,  Lyerly. 
Quillian,  A.  W.,  Jr.,  Primrose. 
Roberson,  J.  C,  Franklin. 
Ragsdale,  F.  A.,  Grayson. 
Spartlin,  J.  W.,  Roopville. 
Talkington,  J.  M.,  Messena. 
Thompson,  Homer,  Norcross. 
Turner,  G.  H.,  Eatonton. 
Winstead,  H.  A.,  Dalton. 


Georgia  Methodism. 


417 


IN    MEMORIAM 


Members  of  the  North  Georgia  Conference  Who 
Rest  From  Their  Labors 


Name  Place  of  Death 

1  Lewis  L.  Ledbetter Washington 

2  William   G.   Allen    Forsyth 

3  Jackson  Rush    Whitesville 

4  T.  J.   Embry    Troup   Co. 

5  John    W.    Glenn    Floyd    Co. 

6  John  C.  Simmons   Thomaston 

7  Lemuel  Q.  Allen Dawson  Co. 

8  James  Quillian White  Co. 

9  John   R.   Gaines    Cherokee   Co. 

10  Wesley  P.  Arnold  Clinton 

11  William    H.    Evans    Oxford 

12  Edmund  W.  Reynolds  .    ...Fayette  Co. 

13  John  W.   Reynolds    Culloden 

14  Alfred  G.  Carpenter   dimming 

15  John  W.   Turner    Senoia 

16  William  J.  Parks    Oxford 

17  Joshua  M.  Parker   Atlanta 

18  Jesse  W.   Carroll    Rockdale   Co. 

19  Benjamin  J.  Johnson   Fulton  Co. 

20  Robert    F.    Jones    Senoia 

21  Gadwell    F.    Pearce    Decatur 

22  John   H.    Mashburn    Gainesville 

23  John  H.   Harris    Atlanta 

24  Francis    A.    Kimbell    Atlanta 

25  James    M.    Dickey    Augusta 

26  William  H.  Trammell   Athens 

27  William  A.  Florence Social  Circle 

28  Morgan    Bellah    Barnesville 

29  John  W.  Yarbrough   Oxford 

30  Wesley  P.  Pledger    Atlanta 

31  Caleb  W.  Key   Augusta 

32  James  B.  Payne    Thomaston 

33  John  P.  Duncan Union  Springs 

34  John  W.   Knight    Milledgeville 

35  Josiah  Lewis  Sparta 

36  Francis  B.  Davies  Decatur 

37  William  H.  Weaver Clayton 

38  Thomas  A.   Gillespie    Heard    Co. 

39  John  B.  Hollinshead  Kirkwood 

40  William  R.  Foote   Decatur 

41  Albert  W.  Roland   Starrsville 

42  Alexander  Means    Oxford 

43  Daniel  Kelsey   Atlanta 


Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 


Entered 
Itinerancy 

1857 
1853 
1852 
1859 
1835 
1830 
1852 
1814 
1861 
1827 
1841 
1834 
1856 
1868 
1855 
1822 
1871 
1839 
1857 
1851 
1838 
1851 
1851 
1851 
1850 
1874 
1844 
1833 
1834 
1852 
1833 
1835 
1836 
1838 
1866 
1866 
1866 
1881 
1880 
1849 
1853 
1839 
1844 


Died 

1867 
1867 
1867 
1868 
1868 
1868 
1868 
1869 
1869 
1870 
1870 
1870 
1870 
1871 
1871 
1873 
1875 
1876 
1876 
1876 
1876 
1876 
1876 
1878 
1878 
1878 
1879 
1880 
1880 
1880 
1881 
1881 
1881 
1881 
1881 
1881 
1881 
1882 
1881 
1882 
1882 
1883 
1884 


A*e 

43 

49 
45 
74 
63 
43 
75 
38 

56 

70 

34 

44 
74 

75 
42 
46 
63 
73 
46 
49 
53 
27 
72 
81 
67 
46 
75 
81 
72 
83 
73 
46 
40 
29 
28 
63 
53 
82 
69 


418  History  op 


Name  Place  of  Death 

44  Albert  Gray   Henry  Co.,  Ga. 

45  Alonzo  Campbell    Atlanta,  Ga. 

46  Josiah  Lewis,  Jr Sparta,  Ga. 

47  John  W.   Quillian    Oxford,  Ga. 

48  John  D.  McFarland   Walker  Co.,  Ga. 

49  Michael  D.  Turner Stone  Mountain,  Ga. 

50  Isaac  G.  Parks  Decatur,  Ga. 

51  James  E.  Evans Thomson,  Ga. 

52  Lewis  J.  Davies    Gainesville,  Ga. 

53  William  B.  Arnold   Spring  Place,  Ga. 

54  James  Jones  Meriwether  Co.,  Ga. 

55  Henry  Cranford  Jackson  Co.,  Ga. 

56  William  M.  Crumley Atlanta,  Ga. 

57  James  G.  Worley Fairburn,  Ga. 

58  F.  M.  T.  Brannan   Fairburn,  Ga. 

59  John  D.  Gray  Hawthorne,  Ga. 

60  Wilton  P.  Quillian   Rutledge,  Ga. 

61  George  H.   Pattillo    Clarksville,  Ga. 

62  Clairborne  Trussell   Villa  Rica,  Ga. 

63  Daniel  D.   Cox   Gainesville,  Ga. 

64  Alexander  M.  Thigpen    Carrollton,  Ga. 

65  Alfred  T.  Mann  Augusta,  Ga. 

66  Benjamin   F.   Farris    Harlem,  Ga. 

67  George  E.  Gardner Cedartown,  Ga. 

68  George  E.  Bonner   Atlanta,  Ga. 

69  Jesse  Boring   Dixie,  Ga. 

70  Samuel  J.  Bellah  Cobb  Co.,  Ga. 

71  James  L.  Pierce  Texarkana,  Ga. 

72  William  J.  Wardlaw    Jasper  Co.,  Ga. 

73  George  K.  Quillian    Lithonia,  Ga. 

74  Charles  C.  Fleming Morganton,  Ga. 

75  William    A.    Simmons    Atlanta,  Ga. 

76  Andrew  J.  Deavours Franklin  Co.,  Ga. 

77  James  L.   Lupo   Conyers,  Ga. 

78  W.  W.  Oslin    Harlem,  Ga. 

79  James  H.  Baxter  Decatur,  Ga. 

80  E.  T.  Hendrix Thomaston,  Ga. 

81  Miller   H.   White Grantville,  Ga. 

82  J.  B.  C.  Quillian Douglasville,  Ga. 

83  Eli  Smith  Ringgold,  Ga. 

84  Weyman  H.  Potter Austell,  Ga. 

85  J.  J.  Singleton Rome,  Ga. 

86  B.  F.  Payne  Marietta,  Ga. 

87  William  P.   Smith    Atlanta,  Ga. 

88  John  M.  Bright Marshallville,  Ga. 

89  J.  J.  Morgan  Guyton,  Ga. 

90  O.  B.  Quillian  Washington,  Ga. 

91  J.  R.  Mayson   Edgewood,  Ga. 

92  J.  M.  Owens Fulton  Co.,  Ga. 

93  H.  S.  Bradley  Washington,  Ga. 


Entered 

Itinerancy 

Died 

Age 

1849 

1884 

58 

1872 

1885 

43 

1866 

1885 

44 

1875 

1885 

31 

1870 

1885 

40 

1876 

1885 

28 

1872 

1885 

45 

1833 

1886 

76 

1847 

1886 

64 

1883 

1886 

26 

1835 

1887 

79 

1846 

1887 

85 

1840 

1887 

71 

1852 

1887 

65 

1874 

1887 

60 

1873 

1887 

35 

1884 

1887 

25 

1856 

1888 

51 

1837 

1889 

89 

1845 

1889 

70 

1856 

1889 

57 

1836 

1889 

73 

1872 

1889 

56 

1870 

1889 

42 

1873 

1889 

43 

1827 

1890 

83 

1845 

1890 

65 

1847 

1890 

65 

1851 

1890 

72 

1888 

1890 

45 

1887 

1890 

25 

1844 

1890 

67 

1838 

1891 

77 

1858 

1891 

70 

1860 

1891 

60 

1868 

1891 

43 

1880 

1891 

34 

1835 

1891 

78 

1845 

1891 

67 

1872 

1891 

43 

1853 

1891 

63 

1859 

1891 

64 

1882 

1891 

45 

1872 

1892 

48 

1851 

1882 

— 

1858 

1892 

60 

1879 

1893 

35 

1870 

1893 

66 

1887 

1893 

40 

1879 

1893 

54 

Georgia  Methodism. 


419 


Name  Place  of  Deal 

94  W.  D.  Anderson   Marietta 

95  J.  H.  Daniel Franklin 

96  N.  H.  Palmer Dalton 

97  J.  R.  Parker  Greenville 

98  W.  R.  Branham   Oxford 

99  M.  W.  Arnold   Monroe 

100  George  T.  King  Jefferson 

101  Richard  J.   Harwell Jonesboro 

102  T.  S.  L.  Harwell Jonesboro 

103  Harwell  H.  Parks   Edgewood 

104  Wesley  F.   Smith    Winterville 

105  J.  Rembert  Smith   Atlanta 

106  W.  A.  C.  Baker Heard  Co. 

107  W.  C.  Dunlap  Covington 

108  A.  J.  Jarrell  Cartersville 

109  R.  A.  Connor    Lexington 

110  Joseph  Chambers    Decatur 

111  Joel  T.  Daves,  Sr Atlanta 

112  Leonard  Rush  Talbot  Co. 

113  Marshall  F.  Malsby Social  Circle 

114  Robert  H.  Jones  Cartersville 

115  Thomas  J.  Edwards   Rockmart 

116  Edward  G.  Dunagan  Nicholson 

117  John  T.  Norris   Cartersville 

118  Freeman  F.  Reynolds Battle  Hill 

119  Miles  H.  Dillard   Athens 

120  John  M.  Lowry  Milledgeville 

121  Lee  M.  Lyle   Hampton 

122  Habersham  J.  Adams St.  Louis, 

123  J.  M.  Armstrong   Norwood 

124  Morgan   Callaway    Oxford 

125  William  J.  Scott  Atlanta 

126  Simon  P.  Richardson   Macon 

127  Goodman  Hughes  Dahlonega 

128  Mark  H.  Edwards   Fairburn 

129  Clayton  Quillian  Atlanta 

130  Levi  P.  Neese Fairburn 

131  W.  M.  D.  Bond College  Park 

132  William  B.  Stradley   Atlanta 

133  John  P.  Burgess  Atlanta 

134  Robert  W.  Bigham Demorest 

135  Peter  A.  Heard College  Park 

136  Peter  M.  Ryburn   Oxford 

137  William  F.  Colley    Summerville 

138  John  W.  Baker   Madison 

139  Wiley  T.  Hamilton   Atlanta 

140  Wesley  G.  Hanson  Tunnel  Hill 

141  Charles  S.  Owens Milledgeville 

142  William  Frank  Cook Newnan 

143  William  A.  Dodge  East  Point 


Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Mo. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 
Ga. 


Entered 
Itinerancy 

1875 
1878 
1853 
1860 
1836 
1852 
1883 
1850 
1849 
1850 
1853 
1845 
1893 
1862 
1861 
1847 
1853 
1857 
1831 
1853 
1859 
1873 
1894 
1857 
1845 
1875 
1860 
1877 
1855 
1854 
1860 
1854 
1840 
1856 
1878 
1891 
1858 
1852 
1875 
1890 
1844 
1865 
1855 
1877 
1868 
1865 
1869 
1877 
1855 
1862 


Died 

1894 
1894 
1894 
1894 
1894 
1894 
1894 
1895 
1895 
1895 
1895 
1895 
1895 
1896 
1896 
1896 
1897 
1897 
1897 
1897 
1897 
1898 
1898 
1898 
1898 
1898 
1898 
1898 
1898 
1898 
1899 
1899 
1899 
1899 
1899 
1899 
1899 
1899 
1900 
1900 
1900 
1901 
1901 
1901 
1902 
1902 
1902 
1902 
1902 
1904 


Age 
55 
41 
77 
56 
81 
65 
48 
71 
71 
70 
80 
59 
29 
57 
56 
71 
79 
64 
86 
74 
69 
65 
32 
62 
84 
47 
55 
55 

65 
68 
73 
81 
88 
51 
41 
61 
76 
47 
34 
77 
74 
71 
42 
76 
64 
64 

70 
59 


420 


History  of 


161  A. 

162  F. 


Name  '  Place  of  Death 

144  Jameg  L.  Perryman   Rockmart 

145  James  N.  Myers  Winston 

146  William  P.  Rivers Cave  Spring 

147  Thomas  F.   Pierce    Gainesville 

148  Elbert  W.  Ballinger   Milledgeville 

140    F.  P.  Spencer Atlanta 

150  John  E.  Rosser White  Plains 

151  William  F.   Quillian    Cartersville 

152  William  F.  Robinson    Monroe 

153  Henry  R.  Davies   Turin 

154  William  T.  Norman  Elbert  Co 

155  David  C.  Brown .Atlanta 

156  William  D.  Shea    Atlanta 

157  Henry  M.  Newton   Atlanta 

158  H.  W.  Morris Shady  Dale 

159  Gibson  C.  Andrews Lutherville 

160  B.  E.  L.  Timmons  Atlanta 

G.  Worley   Grantville 

G.  Hughes  Newnan 

163  R.  R.  Johnson  Rockmart 

164  J.  S.  Rawls   Subligna 

165  T.  S.  Edwards    Milner 

166  F.   G.   Golden    Newnan 

167  J.   R.    McCleskey Washington 

168  D.  J.  Myrick  College  Park 

169  J.  W.  Heidt Atlanta 

170  J.  S.  Moore  Oxford 

171  E.  P.  Brown  Sharon 

172  J.    F.    Mixon    Elberton 

173  W.  A.  Parks   Gainesville 

174  Ford  McRee   Augusta 

175  J.  N.  Snow   Covington 

176  J.  A.  Thurman   Milledgeville 

177  J.  Q.  Watts    Atlanta 

178  J.   T.   Curtis    Gainesville 

179  C.  A.  Evans   Atlanta 

180  M.  G.  Hamby   Blairsville 

181  F.  P.  Langford   Cedartown 

182  B.  P.  Searcy Milledgeville 

183  J.  M.  White   St.  George 

184  G.  W.  Farr    Clayton 

A.    Rosser    Atlanta 

A.  Seals    Hawkinsville 

B.   Bonnell    Macon 

G.  Murrah    Macon 

L.  Troutman   Athens 


185  J. 

186  T. 

187  W. 

188  E. 

189  M. 

190  W. 

191  M. 

192  M.  J.   Cofer    Atlanta 

193  R.  A.  Seale  Sarasota,  Fla 


P.  Turner   Japan 

H.  Eakes    Madison 


Entered 

th 

Itinerancy 

Died 

Asre 

,  Ga. 

1875 

1904 

60 

,  Ga. 

1868 

1904 

71 

,  Ga. 

1865 

1904 

77 

,  Ga. 

1847 

1904 

79 

,  Ga. 

1884 

1904 

57 

,  Ga. 

1886 

1904 

48 

,  Ga. 

1886 

1905 

53 

,  Ga. 

1867 

1905 

62 

,  Ga. 

1866 

1905 

65 

,  Ga. 

1852 

1905 

54 

,  Ga. 

1850 

1906 

81 

,  Ga. 

1884 

1906 

64 

,  Ga. 

1850 

1906 

77 

,  Ga. 

1878 

1906 

72 

,  Ga. 

1886 

1907 

49 

,  Ga. 

1859 

1907 

72 

,  Ga. 

1866 

1907 

62 

,  Ga. 

1848 

1907 

79 

,  Ga. 

1865 

1908 

75 

,  Ga. 

1866 

1908 

69 

,  Ga. 

1905 

1908 

38 

•,  Ga. 

1884 

1908 

55 

,  Ga. 

1892 

1908 

44 

,  Ga. 

1877 

1908 

63 

,  Ga. 

1849 

1909 

83 

,,  Ga. 

1866 

1909 

68 

,  Ga. 

1855 

1909 

80 

,  Ga. 

1869 

1909 

77 

,  Ga. 

1856 

1910 

82 

S  Ga. 

1856 

1910 

76 

,  Ga. 

1887 

1910 

50 

,  Ga. 

1889 

1910 

45 

,  Ga. 

1871 

1910 

60 

l,  Ga. 

1898 

1910 

37 

>,  Ga. 

1859 

1911 

78 

,  Ga. 

1865 

1911 

78 

,  Ga. 

1854 

1911 

78 

,  Ga. 

1884 

1911 

59 

,  Ga. 

1887 

1911 

46 

>,  Ga. 

1881 

1911 

70 

l,  Ga. 

1890 

1912 

54 

i,  Ga. 

1870 

1912 

— 

,  Ga. 

1867 

1912 

— 

,  Ga. 

1882 

1912 

65 

,  Ga. 

1859 

1912 

75 

,  Ga. 

1894 

1912 

51 

apan 

1893 

1912 

48 

i,  Ga. 

1868 

1912 

73 

i,   Ga. 

1876 

1912 

74 

Fla. 

1859 

1912 

79 

RUFUS  W.  SMITH, 
Pres.  Lagrange  Female  College. 


Georgia  Methodism.  423 

OFFICIAL  REGISTER  AND  DIRECTORY  SOUTH 
GEORGIA  CONFERENCE,   1912—1913 


(E.,  Elder.  D.,  Deacon   S'y.,  Supernumerary.      S'd.,     Superannuated.) 

Name  Post  Office  Date     ent  Re- 

Entered     lation 
E 


1  C.  D.  Adams  Thunderbolt   1874 

2  W.^G.  Allaben Helena  1903  E 

E 

E 
E 
E 
E 


3  J.  H.  Allen Richland    1904 

4  W.  N.  Ainsworth Macon    1891 

5  R.  M.  Allison   Reidsville    1890 

6  Bascom    Anthony    Wrightsville  1881 

7  J.  J.  Ansley    Marshallville    1878 

8  Walter  Anthony    Bainbridge    1904  E 

9  E.  W.  Anderson  Whigham   1908  E 

10  J.  W.  Arnold    Talbotton    1884  E 

11  W.  E.  Arnold   Eastman    1893  E 

12  G.  P.  Austin  Hazlehurst    1902  E 

13  R.  E.  Bailey   Shellman    1894  E 

14  L.  J.   Ballard    Albany   1894  e 

15  H.  B.  Bardwell  Havana,  Cuba   1899  E 

16  L.  L.  Barr  Scott     1908  E 

17  J.  M.  Bass  Macon    1894  e 

18  A.  H.  Bazemore Norwich    1869  S'd 

19  M.  F.  Beals  Broxton    .'l890  E 

20  W.  T.  Belvin  Waycross    1908  E 

21  W.  P.  Blevin    Ft.  Gaines 1893  E 

55y-^-DB!itch    Savannah    1892  E 

t*  C.   E.   Boland    Bingen    1873  S'd 

24  R.  M.  Booth   Ludowici   1874  E 

11  5    n    50Un?    Dixie     !907  E 

26  H.  C.  Brewton   Adrian    1881  E 

27  A.  G.  Brewton   Buena  Vista  1901  E 

%l  i  W;  Bridges  Wrightsville   1902  S'd 

29  S.  W.  Brown Boston    1885  e 

30  Leroy  A.  Brown   Guyton     ...     1904  e 

oi  ir  C;  G>  Brooks   Wrightsville '.'.  1904  E 

32  W.  A.  Brooks  Blackshear    1906  E 

33  W.  H.  Budd    Valdosta    1894  e 

34  W.  J.  Callahan   Oita,   Japan    1894  E 

11  JV  W;  Cannon Sycamore    1907  E 

36  M.  W.  Carmichael Byron  1901  e 

37  Ira  K.  Chambers  Colquitt   ..'  '1902  E 

38  J.  P.  Chatfield   Camilla    1904  E 

a*  Jri  5  ^anne11   Coolidge    1908  E 

1?  n    &  S?GS,ter  Columbus    1887  E 

il  £'   £    n,^   Hagan     i^  E 

!,  S'  E-  Clements   Havana,  Cuba   1897  E 

«  T.  M.  Christian   Columbus    1884  E 


424  History  of 

Pres- 
Name                                                            Post  Office                                  Date      ent  Re- 
Entered  lation 

44  J.    G.   Christian    Macon    1897  E 

45  P.  H.  Crumper  St.  George 1873  S'd 

46  L.  W.  Colson   Quitman    1896  E 

47  J.    O.    A.    Cook    Lumpkin     1863  E 

48  Ed  F.  Cook  Nashville,  Tenn    1887  E 

49  Osgood  F.   Cook    Waycross    1892  E 

50  J.  W.  Conners Sale    City    1887  E 

51  Chas.  E.  Cook   Lyons   1903  E 

52  Chas.  W.  Curry  Adel    1901  E 

53  E.  R.  Cowart   Garfield    1907  E 

54  W.  C.  Culpepper  Statenville    1910  D 

55  T.  W.  Darley   Sandersville   1886  E 

56  T.  E.  Davenport Cuthbert    1888  E 

57  Julian  P.  Dell    Sparks    1904  E 

58  C.  E.  Dell Ochlochnee     1907  E 

59  Wm.  K.  Dennis   Statesboro    1889  E 

60  R.   F.  Dennis    Poulan    1908  D 

61  J.  P.  Dickenson  Parrott     1888  E 

62  J.  W.  Domingos Ocilla    1871  E 

63  T.  F.  Drake Graymont    1900  E 

64  Chas.   G.   Earnest    Arlington    1900  E 

65  T.  W.  Ellis   Clinton 1886  S'd 

66  T.  D.  Ellis  Savannah    1893  E 

67  Paul  W.  Ellis  Waycross    1902  E 

68  H.  C.  Ewing  Columbus    1906  E 

69  R.  P.  Fain  Smithville   1897  E 

70  H.  C.  Fentress  Springvale    1868  E 

71  M.  B.  Ferrell Roberta    1883  E 

72  Guyton  Fisher   Macon    1894  E 

73  J.   C.  Flanders Blakely    1887  E 

74  P.  Flanders  Wrightsville  1907  S'd 

75  J.  M.  Foster  Vienna   1884  E 

76  Jesse  F.  Ford  Mauk    1907  E 

77  H.   T.  Freeman    Savannah    1909  D 

78  W.  C.  Francis Darien    1910  D 

79  T.  C.  Gardner Elko    1899  E 

80  E.  E.  Gardner Perry    1899  E 

81  J.  L.  Gerdine   Korea,  Asia   1900  E 

82  W.  C.  Glenn  Plains 1888  E 

83  J.  M.  Glenn  Savannah    1891  E 

84  H.  J.  Graves  Swainsboro  1904  E 

85  E.  W.  Gray  Cusseta    1907  E 

86  Reese  Griffin Nashville 1906  E 

87  J.  B.  Griner Wrightsville  1881  E 

88  J.  C.  Griner Hinesville   1888  E 

89  J.  A.  Harmon  Waynesboro   1890  E 

90  J.  C.  Harrison Pinehurst    1880  E 

91  S.  A.  Hearn Macon    1898  E 

92  W.  S.  Heath  Oliver 1901  E 

93  L.  A.  Hill  McRae    1897  E 

94  C.  C.  Hines  Helena   1868  S'd 


Georgia  Methodism.  425 

Pres- 

Name  Post  Office  Date     ent  Re- 

Entered     lation 

95  W.   F.   Hixon    Rochelle    1884  E 

96  P.  T.  Holloway   Hamilton 1907  E 

97  O.  K.  Hopkins   Havana,  Cuba   1902  E 

98  J.  H.  House Pavo   1898  E 

99  W.  A.  Huckabee Blacksbear    1884  E 

100  John  N.  Hudson Bronwood    1900  E 

101  G.  W.  Hutchinson  Norman  Park 1909  D 

102  Geo.  C.  Ingram   Talbotton    1903  E 

103  C.  M.  Inflnger Milltown    1909  D 

104  C.  A.  Jackson Dawson    1892  E 

105  C.  R.  Jenkins  Macon    1900  E 

106  J.  B.  Johnstone  Thomasville    1874  E 

107  Wm.  S.  Johnson   Sasser    1903  E 

108  W.  C.  Jones   Cairo    1887  E 

109  H.  C.  Jones  Macon    1891  E 

110  J.  N.  Jones   Tennille  1891  E 

111  J.  S.  Jordan Alapaha   1869  E 

112  Chas.  W.  Jordan   Gordon  1904  E 

113  Silas  Johnson  McRae    1910  D 

114  S.  E.  Jenkins   Baxley    1910  E 

115  Aaron  Kelley   Mystic    1891  E 

116  Isaac  R.  Kelly  Baxley    1900  E 

117  T.  B.  Kemp    St.  Mary's  1887  E 

118  S.  S.  Kemp   Byromville    1899  E 

119  Robert    Kerr    Moultrie    1894  E 

120  W.  H.  Ketchum  Midland   1906  E 

121  Wesley  Lane    Macon    1860  S*d 

122  T.  G.  Lang Montezuma  1889  E 

123  Whitley  Langston  Dublin    1893  E 

124  B.   F.   Lawhern    Sylvania    1900  E 

125  C.  M.  Ledbetter Mt.  Vernon 1884  E 

126  M.  M.  Leggett Jakin    1908  E 

127  Artemas  Lester   Cochran  1884  E 

128  J.  S.  Lewis   Flovilla    1884  S'd 

129  James  W.  Lilley   Brinson    1900  E 

130  C.  W.  Littlejohn   Savannah    1892  E 

131  J.  M.  Lovett  Louisville    1881  E 

132  O.  W.  Little Ashburn    1910  D 

133  W.  C.  Lovett    Atlanta    1874  E 

134  J.  T.  Lowe    Surrency   1879  E 

135  Francis  McCullough  Unadilla    1894  E 

136  J.  P.  McFerrin  Macon    1865  E 

137  J.  B.  McGehee  Oglethorpe    1852  E 

138  E.  H.  McGehee    Columbus    1858  E 

139  W.  D.  McGregor McRae    1879  E 

140  Idus  E.  McKellar   Oxford    1906  E 

141  T.    R.   McMichael    Tennille  1887  E 

142  L.  B.  McMichael   Knoxville 1906  E 

143  D.  R.  McWilliams  Savannah    1857  S'd 

144  J.  D.  McCord   Morven    1909  D 

145  J.  W.  Malone  Cuthbert    1885  E 


426  History  of 

Pres- 
Name  Post  Office  Date       ent  Re- 

Entered     lation 

146  C.  J.  Mallette  Irwinton    1906  E 

147  W.  A.  Mallory   Reidsville    1893  E 

148  G.   H.   Martin    Fitzgerald    1895  S'd 

149  Geo.  W.  Mathews   Fitzgerald   1878  E 

150  J.  H.  Mather   Atlanta 1889  E 

151  B.  C.  Matteson Dudley   1908  E 

152  Chas.   M.   Meeks    Pelham    1903  E 

153  D.  B.  Merritt   Folkston    1902  E 

154  D.  F.  Miles  Baxley    1886  S'd 

155  M.  A.  Morgan  Douglas           1888  E 

156  E.  F.  Morgan   Dawson    1889  E 

157  C.  A.  Moore   Wrightsville  1858  E 

158  H.  M.  Morrison   Hawkinsville    1884  E 

159  H.  P.  Myers Waycross    1868  S'd 

160  Paul    Muse    Waverly  Hall 1909  D 

161  T.  A.   Mosely    Pearson   1910  D 

162  A.  J.  Moore  Blackshear    1910  D 

163  T.  I.  Nease  Brooklet    1874  E 

164  C.  L.  Nease Hahira   1908  E 

165  R.  R.  Norman Rocky  Ford   1893  E 

166  N.  H.  Olmstead   Willacoochee    1885  E 

167  J.  M.  Outler   Thomasville    1891  E 

168  E.  M.  Overby   Sylvester     1898  E 

169  S.    C.   Olliff    Baconton     1909  D 

170  R.  F.  Owen  Attapulgus    1907  E 

171  E.  L.  Padrick  Lake  Park 1883  E 

172  N.  T.  Pafford   Jesup    1895  E 

173  Geo.  R.  Partin   Stillmore     1907  E 

174  J.    N.    Peacock    Swainsboro     1892  E 

175  H.  L.  Pearson Donaldsonville    1894  E 

176  Theo  E.  Pharr  Cataula    1904  E 

178  B.  C.  Prickett Pineview   1896  E 

179  W.  G.  Pilcher  Shellman  1910  D 

180  Wm.  F.  Quillian Nashville,  Tenn    1903  E 

181  R.  J.   Pollard    Spread    1890  E 

182  F.  A.  Ratcliffe St.   George    1893  E 

183  K.  Reid McRae    1878  E 

184  A.  W.  Rees  Sparks    1906  E 

185  G.  P.  Reviere  Bartow     1890  E 

186  E.  E.  Rose Millen    1895  E 

187  J.  A.   Rountree    Davisboro    1908  E 

188  J.  M.  Rustin  Ellaville     1895  E 

189  J.  T.  Ryder  Macon    1886  E 

190  Moses  Register    Green's  Cut   1910  D 

191  A.  H.  Robinson   Waycross    1907  E 

192  E.  A.  Sanders Leslie  1882  E 

193  J.  J.   Sanders   Rebecca 1908  E 

194  V.  P.  Scoville Reynolds   1899  E 

195  J.  H.  Scruggs  Valdosta    1871  E 

196  J.  E.  Seals Fort  Valley    1900  E 

197  B.   S.   Sentell    Columbus    1881  E 


Georgia  Methodism.  427 

Pres- 

Name                                                         Post  Office                                 Date  ent  Re- 
Entered  lation 

198  A.  P.  Segars  Wadley    1904  E 

199  M.  A.  Shaw Springfield    1908  E 

200  Jason  Shiran    Edison    1888  E 

201  W.  F.  Smith   Guyton     1884  E 

202  J.    A.    Smith Macon    1893  E 

203  O.  S.  Smith   Pembroke    1906  E 

204  R.   A.    Sowell    Doerun   1902  E 

205  T.  B.  Stanford   Savannah    1897  E 

206  Hamp  Stevens   Columbus    1899  E 

207  W.  W.   Stewart    Quitman    1860  S'd 

208  F.  L.  Stokes   Girard        1887  E 

209  T.  D.  Strong  Thunderbolt   1882  S'd 

210  John   E.    Summer    Towns    1906  E 

211  E.   B.    Sutton    Brewton 1906  E 

212  J.   A.    Sconyers    Hagan    1909  D 

213  J.  D.  Snyder  Americus  1891  E 

214  G.  W.  Thomas   vVaresboro 1873  E 

215  J.  A.  Thomas   Americus 1893  E 

216  G.  C.  Thompson Atlanta     1871  S'y 

217  T.  H.  Thompson   Tifton     1895  E 

218  J.  B.  Thrasher  Waycross    1898  E 

219  J.  W.  Tinley  Macon    1889  E 

220  W.  E.  Towson Ashburn     1886  E 

221  I.  P.  Tyson   Cordele    1894  E 

222  W.    C.   Wade    Macon    1884  S'd 

223  Allen  B.  Wall  Abbeville        1904  E 

224  Lester  W.  Walker Kesler    1901  E 

225  J.  P.  Wardlaw   Cordele    1870  E 

226  Loy  Warwick   Brunswick    1892  E 

227  R.  M.  Wesley  Lumber  City 1891  E 

228  B.   F.  West    Uvalda   1906  E 

229  J.  W.  Weston  Buena  Vista  1873  E 

230  B.  E.  Withington    Macon    1893  E 

231  R.  L.  Whitehead   Wrens    1908  E 

232  R.  L.  Wiggins  Augusta   1858  S'd 

233  A.  M.  Williams   Columbus    1872  E 

234  Walter  Williams   Leary  Ga 1908  E 

235  R.  F.  Williamson    Ellaville  1859  S'd 

236  W.  L.  Wooten Manchester    1878  S'y 

237  W.  L.  Wright  Cairo    1899  E 

238  A.  F.  Ward   Meigs    1904  E 

239  Geo.  H.  Walker  Homerville   1909  E 

240  N.  H.  Williams    Vidalia  1898  E 


428 


History  of 


LIST  OF  THE    DEAD 
Off  the  South  Georgia   Conference 


NAME 


>> 

V 

•o  s 

it   it 

3.2 

u 

b( 

■^M 

s 

o 

PLACE  OF  BURIAL 


1  Charles  L.  Hayes |1835  1870 

2  James  M.  N.  Lowe J1845  1870 

3  John  M.  Bonnell |1845  1871 

4  John  S.  Ford |1809  1871 

5  Churchwell  A.  Crowell. .  .[1829  1872 

6  Charles  R.  Jewett J1844  1872 

7  J.  Blakely  Smith J1847  1872 

8  John  H.   Robinson    |1821  1872 

9  William   M.   Kennedy 11848  1873 

10  William  W.  Griffin J1839  1874 

11  William   B.    McHan J1849J1874 

12  Reuben  H.  Lucky |1842|1875 

13  Thomas  C.  Coleman |1838|1875 

14  James  Spence    J1870J1875 

15  Edward  H.  Myers I1841J1876 

16  Alvin  J.  Deen |1854|1877 

17  Osborn  L  Smith |1845|1878 

18  Wyatt  Brooks    |1846|187S 

19  Robert  W.   Dixon [1856J1879 

20  Arminius  Wright    |1846|1879 


Russell    County,    Ala 
Clay  County,  Ga. 
Macon,  Ga. 
Macon.   Ga. 
Marshallville,  Ga. 
Bibb  County,  Ga. 
Mftcon,    Ga. 
Oglethorpe,  Ga. 
Mt.  Moriah   Camp   Ground. 
Stone  Mountain,  Ga. 
Cuthbert,  Ga. 
Thomas  County,  Ga. 
Houston  County,  Ga. 
Pulaski  County,  Ga. 
Savannah,    Ga. 
Perry,  Ga. 
Oxford,  Ga. 
Butler,    Ga. 
Americus,   Ga. 
Columbus,  Ga. 


21  Lovick  Pierce  |1805|1879|94Columbus,  Ga. 


22  Samuel  Anthony  |1832 

23  David  Crenshaw   |1868 

24  Robert  J.  Corley  |1865 

25  Walter  Knox    [1841 

26  William  Tigner   J1877 

27  Leonard  C.  Peek |1869 

28  Kenneth  H.  McLain |1880 

29  Young   F.    Tigner [1841 

30  Henry  H.  Pitchford |1835 

31  David  Blalock   J1844 

32  James  Harris  (1842 

33  Dennis  O'Driscoll   |1851 

34  Alexander  P.  Wright |1868 

35  Benjamin  W.  Key J1873 

36  James  Dunwoody   [1818 

37  John  M.  Potter   J1864 

38  Edward  J.  Rentz |1859 

39  Jesse  R.  Littlejohn 1850 


1880 
1881 
1881 
1881 
1881 
1881 
1882 
1882 
1882 
1882 
1882 
1883 
1883 
1883 
1884 
1884 
1884 
1885 


Americus,  Ga. 
Newton  County,  Ga. 
Marianna,   Fla. 
Darien,   Ga. 
Talbot   County,  Ga. 
Thomas   County,  Ga. 
Dalton,  Ga. 
Columbus,  Ga. 
Muscogee  County,  Ga. 
Ft.   Valley,  Ga. 
Orange  County,  Fla. 
Smithville,  Ga. 
Savannah,  Ga. 
Macon,  Ga. 
Houston  County,  Ga. 
Springvale,  Ga. 
Bartow,    Ga. 
Americus,  Ga. 


Georgia  Methodism. 


429 


NAME 


>> 

u 

•a  a 

0.5 

13 

V 

MS 

Q 

< 

PLACE  OF  BURIAL 


40  Chapel  Raiford    |1831 

41  Burrel  S.  Key    [1871 

42  Joseph  J.  Magath J1883 

43  John  W.  Talley  J1828 

44  Robert  M.  Lockwood |1871 

45  William  F.  Conley   |1851 

46  John  E.  Sentell |1850 

47  L.  G.  R.  Wiggins |1840 

48  John  L.    Williams    |1855 

49  Shelton  R,  Weaver |1867 

50  Crosby  W.  Smith  |1873 

51  Robert  B.  Bryan  [1874 

52  J.  E.  Sheppard 11884 


1885 
1885 
1885 
1886 
1886 
1886 
1886 
1888 


1.SSS5G 


INNS 


1890 
1890 


Boston,  Ga. 
Waresboro,    Ga. 
Augusta,  Ga. 
Corsicana,  Texas. 
Baltimore,  Md. 
Brewton  Church,  Ga. 
McRae,  Ga. 
Cataula,  Ga. 
Hazelhurst,  Ga. 
New  Hope,  Clay  Co.,  Ga. 
Macon,  Ga. 
Wrightville,   Ga. 
Taylor's  Creek,  Ga. 


53  N.  D.  Morehouse   |1860|1892|53Thomasville,  Ga 


54  W.  M.  Watts |1851 

55  J.  D.  Maulden |1859 

56  John  M.    Marshall    |1845 

57  R.  B.  Lester   |1852 

58  J.  O.  Langston |1879 

59  B.  F.  Breedlove    [1855 

60  J.  O.  A.  Clark |1854 

61  William  C.  Bass  |1867 

62  W.  P.  Harrison  |1850 

63  S.  W.  Stubbs |1875 

64  S.   S.   Sweet    |1859 

65  H.  T.  Etheridge |1881 

66  J.  B.  Wardlaw   |1842 

67  F.  R.  C.  Ellis   |1852 

68  George  C.  Clark |1844 

69  John  W.  Burke [1854 


1892 
1892 
1893 
1893 
1894 
1894 
1894 
1894 
1895 
1895 
1895 
1S96 
1896 
1896 
1896 
1897 


Boston,  Ga. 

Tennille,  Ga. 

Waycross,  Ga. 

Americus,  Ga. 

Fort  Gaines,  Ga. 

Ft.  Valley,   Ga. 

Macon,   Ga. 

Macon,  Ga. 

Columbus,  Ga. 

Bethpage,  Thomas  Co.,  Ga. 

Macon,  Ga. 

Cordele,  Ga. 

Christiansburg,  Va. 

Valdosta,  Ga. 

Ft.  Valley,  Ga. 

Macon,  Ga. 


70  Jesse   J.   Giles    |1856|1897|70Mt.  Moriah,  Tattnall  Co.,  Ga. 


71  Thomas  K.  Leonard    |1867 

72  W.  W.  Tidwell [1854 

73  H.  R.  Felder    |1875 

74  Wm.  J.  Robertson   |1880 

75  Benj.  F.  Bales   (1888 

76  J.  L.  Rast   |1887 

77  George  P.  Pournelle   |1890 

78  J.  D.  Anthony   |1847 

79  T.  T.  Christian 1854 

80  F.  W.  Flanders |1870 

81  H.  Stubbs   [1887 

82  E.  M.  Wright   |1887 

83  G.  S.  Johnston  |1861 

84  W.  J.  Stallings |1876 

85  Joel  Cowart   11892 


1897 
1898 
1898 
1898 
1898 
1898 
1898 
1899 
1899 
1899 
1899 
1900 
1900 
1900 
1900 


77  Arlington,  Ga. 

80Ellaville,    Ga. 

63  Perry,    Ga. 

46  Macon,  Ga. 

34|jacksonville,  Ga. 

31 

53 

74 

68 

74 

51 

43 

CI 

49 

33 


Milledgeville,  Ga. 
Dawson,  Ga. 
Sandersville,  Ga. 
College  Park,  Ga. 
Wrightsville,  Ga. 
Ochlochnee,  Ga. 
Oxford,  Ga. 
Sandersville,   Ga. 
Bainbridge,    Ga. 
Whigham,  Ga. 


430 


History  of 


NAME 


>, 

o 

■o  0 

U   K 

u  u 

U   V 

u 

\  MS 

C 

< 

PLACE  OF  BURIAL 


86  W.  F.  Bearden 

87  P.  S.  Twitty 

88  W.  H.  Thomas 

89  J.  Carr  

90  W.  J.  Flanders   

91  F.  A.  Branch   

92  L.  B.  Payne   

93  T.  B.  Lanier 

94  W.  T.  McMichael  . . . 

95  J.  W.  Hinton  

96  J.  O.  Branch 

97  J.  R.  Owen  

98  J.   M.   Austin    

99  J.  M.  Boland 

100  W.   C.   Brewton 

101  S.  G.  Childs    

102  S.  F.  Turner    

103  J.  T.  Ainsworth 

104  J.  W.  Lowrance 

105  A.  M.  Wynn 

106  W.  S.  Baker  

107  J.  C.  Parker 

108  J.  T.  Mims   

109  David  F.  Riley 

110  Wm.  F.  Roberts   

111  J.  U.  Tippins   

112  Logan  U.  Peeples 

113  P.  C.  Harris 

114  I.  F.  Griffith   

115  G.  T.  Roberts 

116  S.  J.  Davis   

117  J.  W.  Simmons   

118  Chas.  C.  Elliott 

119  Geo.  G.  N.  MacDonell 

120  H.  D.  Lee  

121  E.    M.   Whiting    

122  W.  M.  C.  Conley    . . . 

123  W.    T.    Clark    

124  C.  W.  Snow   

125  G.  W.  Childress 


1872|1900 
1872|1901 
1849|1901 
1860(1901 

187311902 


1854 
1850 
1858 
1856 
1847 
1854 
1853 
1849 
1886 
1890 
1841 
1904 
1854 
1871 
1849 
1854 
1888 
1886 
1881 
1859 
1902 


189111907 


1851 
1886 
1887 
1900 
1858 
1906 
1854 
1908 
1876 
1886 
1883 
1882 
1891 


1902 
1902 
1902 
1902 
1903 
1904 
1904 
1904 
1905 
1905 
1905 
1905 
1905 
1906 
1906 
1906 
1907 
1907 
1907 
1907 
1907 


49|Evergreen,  Ga 
59  Dublin,  Ga. 
91|Waycross,  Ga. 

68  Macon,  Ga. 
50|Cochran,  Ga. 

69  Marshallville 
77 
71 
64 
77 
66 
76 
78 
4S 
41 


1908 
1908 
1908 
1909 
1909 
1910 
1910 
1910 
1911 
1911 
1912 
1912 
1912 


50 


Ga. 


Macon,    Ga. 

Bush  Creek,  Burke  Co.,  Ga. 

Screven,  Ga. 

Macon,  Ga. 

Dixie,  Ga. 

Cuthbert,  Ga. 

Marshallville,  Ga. 

Butler,  Ga. 

McRae,   Ga. 

McRae,   Ga. 

Shellman,  Ga. 

Macon,  Ga. 

Martin,  Tenn. 

Columbus,  Ga. 

Irwinton,  Ga. 

Sandersville,  Ga. 

Spread,  Ga. 

Perry,  Ga. 

Sycamore,  Ga. 

Bethel  Church,  Appling  Co. 

Nashville,   Ga. 

Smithville,  Ga. 

Mancos,  Colo. 

Walden,  Ga. 

Brewton,  Ga. 

Brunswick,  Ga. 

Atlanta,  Ga. 

Savannah,  Ga. 

Screven  County,  Ga. 

Pierce  Chapel,  Harris  Co. 

Brewton's,   Tattnall   Co. 

Folkston,  Ga. 

Fort  Valley,  Ga. 

Americus,  Ga. 


430 


History  of 


>> 

o 

73  0 

D  id 

i-  ■- 

<u  <u 

,HS 

C 

< 

PLACE  OF  BURIAL 


86  W.  F.  Bearden 

87  P.  S.  Twitty 

88  W.  H.  Thomas 

89  J.  Carr  

90  W.  J.  Flanders   

91  F.  A.  Branch   

92  L.  B.  Payne   

93  T.  B.  Lanier 

94  W.  T.  McMichael  . . . 

95  J.  W.  Hinton  

96  J.  O.  Branch  

97  J.  R.  Owen  

98  J.   M.  Austin    

99  J.  M.  Boland 

100  W.   C.   Brewton 

101  S.  G.  Childs   

102  S.  F.  Turner    

103  J.  T.  Ainsworth 

104  J.  W.  Lowrance 

105  A.  M.  Wynn 

106  W.  S.  Baker  

107  J.  C.  Parker  

108  J.  T.  Mims   

109  David  F.  Riley 

110  Wm.  F.  Roberts   

111  J.  U.  Tippins   

112  Logan  U.  Peeples 

113  P.  C.  Harris  

114  I.  F.  Griffith   

115  G.  T.  Roberts 

116  S.  J.  Davis   

117  J.  W.  Simmons   

118  Chas.  C.  Elliott 

119  Geo.  G.  N.  MacDonell 

120  H.  D.  Lee   

121  E.    M.   Whiting    

122  W.  M.  C.  Conley   . .  . 

123  W.    T.    Clark    

124  C.  W.  Snow   

125  G.  W.  Childress 


1872|1900 
1872|1901 
1849)1901 

1860J1901 


1873 
1854 
1850 
1858 
1856 
1847 
1854 
1853 
1849 
1886 
1890 
1841 
1904 
1854 
1871 
1849 


1902 
1902 
1902 
1902 
1902 
1903 
1904 
1904 
1904 
1905 
1905 
1905 
1905 
1905 
1906 
1906 


1854|1906 
1888J1907 
1886J1907 
1881J1907 
1859J1907 
1902|1907 
1891|1907 
1851(1908 
1886J1908 
1887J1908 
1900J1909 
18581909 
1906)1910 
18541910 
1908|1910 
1876J1911 
1886  1911 
1883J1912 
1882J1912 
189111912 


50 


Evergreen,  Ga. 

Dublin,  Ga. 

Waycross,  Ga. 

Macon,  Ga. 

Cochran,  Ga. 

Marshallville,  Ga. 

Macon,   Ga. 

Bush  Creek,  Burke  Co.,  Ga. 

Screven,  Ga. 

Macon,  Ga. 

Dixie,  Ga. 

Cuthbert,  Ga. 

Marshallville,  Ga. 

Butler,  Ga. 

McRae,   Ga. 

McRae,   Ga. 

Shellman,  Ga. 

Macon,  Ga. 

Martin,  Tenn. 

Columbus,  Ga. 

Irwinton,  Ga. 

Sandersville,  Ga. 

Spread,  Ga. 

Perry,  Ga. 

Sycamore,  Ga. 

Bethel  Church,  Appling  Co. 

Nashville,   Ga. 

Smithville,   Ga. 

Mancos,  Colo. 

Walden,  Ga. 

Brewton,  Ga. 

Brunswick,  Ga. 

Atlanta,  Ga. 

Savannah,  Ga. 

Screven  County,  Ga. 

Pierce  Chapel,  Harris  Co. 

Brewton's,   Tattnall   Co. 

Folkston,  Ga. 

Fort  Valley,  Ga. 

Americus,  Ga. 


.s^*p  ■ 


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